Sunnydale Shinigami
by angelus cado
Summary: *sequel to "Slayer Shinigami"* Fifty-five years have passed in Soul Society since Buffy, Ikkaku and Yumichika entered Squad 11. She is currently a fourth seat within that squad. Question is, for how much longer? *ON HIATUS, BEING REPLOTTED AND REWRITTEN*
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **Totally not mine. Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo and Buffy belongs to Whedon et al. No money being made, please do not sue.

Chapter 1

Buffy sighed, pacing the path she was on once more. She hated night patrols, which was strange because she used to patrol at night all the time when she was alive. then again, nothing ever happened at night in Seiretei, and even though there were people who took midnight strolls from time to time, most of them didn't talk to her. Being the fourth seat of the Eleventh Division gave her a reputation of being a violent and ruthless person. It wouldn't have been so bad if she were a male – after all, Ikkaku and Yumichika had a fair few friends, and they were the third seat and fifth seat respectively – but because she was female the reputation was doubly damaging. There were only a few people who knew what she was really like, and while most of them were her own division, there were a few people who what she was really like.

She sighed, leaning against a railing and staring out at the bright crescent moon as she thought about her life now. A lot of people wondered why she had joined the Eleventh Division at the beginning of her third year, even though she could have finished her years at the academy and gotten on the fast track to lieutenant-ship in another squad. However, she knew that someone had to keep her boys out of trouble, and she was sure it wouldn't be that captain of theirs. She had to look after her brother and Ikkaku, and the only way she could do that was if she was in the same squad as them. For fifty-five years she had trained and worked as a Shinigami of the Gotei 13, moving up the ranks of the Eleventh Division, although it was pretty obvious she wouldn't rise higher unless someone ahead of her died. However, despite this, she had a pretty decent life, once she thought about it.

She had a brother, Yumichika, who had "adopted" her shortly before they had entered the Shinigami Academy, and he was still one of the first people she went to when she was having problems.

She had a best girl friend, Rangiku, who could always cheer her up, and even though they had gotten off to a rough start in the beginning, they were almost as close as she and Yumichika were.

There was also Iba, who had taken a shine to her when they first met and even though he had transferred to Seventh Division recently, they kept in touch and spent time together even though most of the division saw him as a traitor.

And then there was Ikkaku, the thorn in her side for so many years. She still couldn't quite classify their relationship, as she couldn't quite say it was friendship. It was definitely more than that, although she couldn't be sure if it was love or loathing, and it's not like she could talk to anyone about it. Yumichika would just smile knowingly at her, Rangiku would giggle and tell her to go for it and Iba would just give her more sake. She was one of the few people Iba would share his sake with; most of the people who wanted to drink with him had to bring their own.

There was one wrench in the system in her almost idyllic life. It was her division. While she got along quite well with her Captain, Kenpachi Zaraki – although his vice-captain, Yachiru Kusajishi had taken a shine to her as soon as she had entered the squads, so Zaraki might just be civil with her for Yahiru's sake - and most of the higher ranked officers of the division, the lower ranked officers had a problem with her. Since the division was mostly made up of men who had the attitude that women didn't belong in their division, it was obvious that some members of the division made her feel unwelcome. They had made this known to Buffy many times, threatening her with violence if she didn't transfer out. She hadn't told anyone of this yet, and she didn't plan on it any time soon. Since it had only come down to threats and small, easily defended bouts of violence so far, she didn't feel the need to tell anyone about it. And if it came to blows, well, she could handle anything thrown at her. She hadn't gotten to fourth seat of the Eleventh Division, the division known for its combat prowess, on her looks and charm after all.

Hearing footsteps approaching, Buffy turned to see who had arrived, her hand on her Zanpakuto as she did so. Being on patrol, she had to make sure she was on the alert just in case a threat came her way.

"Paranoid much, Ayasegawa?" the apparent leader of the group asked with a smirk and a chuckle. He was a large, beefy man, with broad shoulders and dreadlocked hair. She recognized him as Masato Himura, one of the fifteenth seats in her division. She had faced him twice at the beginning of her career, once at her entrance exam to the academy, and once to prove she deserved to be in the Eleventh Division. Fifty-five years later, he still held a grudge, although he hadn't tried to attack her in all of those years.

"I'm sure you understand my caution, Himura," Buffy replied, not removing her hand from her Zanpakuto. Himura had brought four others with him, and even though they hadn't made any moves to attack her, she still felt threatened. To be a member of the Eleventh Division, one of the requirements was to be a master at combat. It would not be difficult for any of these men to spring and attack, overpowering her if she was not on her guard. There had already been a few attempts to attack her, but it had always been one on one, and it would always be when she was alone. She was pretty sure that the rest of the division was scared of at least Ikkaku, if not both Ikkaku and Yumichika, and since she was almost always with them the attacks were few and far between.

"You don't need your Zanpakuto," Himura said. "We only wish to talk to you."

"I may be blonde, but I'm not stupid," Buffy said, eyes narrowing. "You and I both know that our division doesn't settle its disputes with words."

"If you want it that way, fine," Himura said, gesturing to the four smaller, but no less tough than anyone else in the division, men standing behind him. They came forward, expressions of unrestrained glee on their faces as Himura gave them their instructions. "Break her, boys."

Before Buffy knew it, she was bound in Bakudo No. 63, Locking Bondage Stripes, the golden chains wrapping around her arms, binding them to her sides. She glared at Himura, who was standing off to the side, smirking.

"That's dirty tactics," Buffy growled at him, glaring. "We don't use Kido in our division."

"Which is why the Kido wasn't cast by someone in our division," Himura replied. He pointed at the guy who had cast the spell. "You, leave, we don't need you anymore."

"I'm still getting paid, right?" the guy asked.

"Yeah, yeah, you'll get paid, now get out of here," Himura replied, waving his hand dismissively. "And remember, you didn't see anything, you didn't hear anything. Now scram!"

The man flash stepped away, disappearing. Buffy stood there, helpless, unable to break the Kido spell. She hadn't been in the academy long enough to learn the high level Kido, although now she wished she had worked on it after she had left, even though her Kido tutor had completely cut ties with her once she had made her choice.

The other three men advanced on her, pushing her to the ground and wailing on her. Kicks and punches landed on her with precision and she was powerless to protect herself. By the time her assailants were hitting her with their sheathed Zanpakutos, Buffy had passed out from the pain and her injuries.

XOXOXO

By the time Buffy awoke, she was alone, no longer bound by the Kido spell and in indescribable amounts of pain. She groaned and rolled over, wincing as the pain wracked her body. She struggled to her feet, using the railing to pull herself up as she did so. She tried to take an inventory of her injuries, figuring out where she hurt and the severity of the pain. She could tell she had a couple cracked ribs, a dislocated shoulder and she was pretty sure her knee was damaged pretty severely. Holding onto the railing, she began limping her way back to the Eleventh Division barracks, to the apartment she shared with her brother.

While she had been passed out, her Slayer healing had done some of its work, but it would take a full night – or day, in this case - of rest at least before she would be back to where she should be, uninjured and in top form. Buffy just hoped Yumichika was asleep when she got home, and wouldn't hear her come in and see the injuries she had sustained. If he did, he would probably carry her to the Fourth Division barracks himself to be healed by Captain Unohana herself. Even after all of these years, she still sustained her fear and loathing of hospitals. It didn't help that Retsu Unohana was a formidable woman who wanted to make sure that her patients healed properly, stopping at nothing to make sure it happened. More than once Buffy had woken up strapped to a bed, unable to get free as the healing Kido washed over her.

She sighed as she reached the door to her apartment, sliding it open as quietly as she could. She had the option of having a place all to herself, but she would have gotten lonely, fast. Ever since the beginning it had been her, Yumichika and Ikkaku. Now that she was in her division, though, it would have seemed strange for all three of them to live in the same apartment, so Ikkaku got his own right next door. More often than not, though, he was over at hers and Yumichika's, playing cards, being lazy and stealing their food and booze.

Even though it was the middle of the night, the lights were on in her apartment. _Shit, _Buffy thought. _Just wonderful. Hey, maybe I can get away with lying to them this time. I think I've gotten better._ Her mouth and mind had grown foul as the years had worn on. Part of it was Ikkaku's influence all on his own, and part of it was being a member of the Eleventh Division.

"Buffy!" Yumichika exclaimed, his eyes widening when he saw what had happened to her. She knew it was bad; she felt like she was a full-body bruise. She did not even want to think about what her face looked like. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Hey guys," Buffy greeted with a weak smile as she raised the arm that did not have the dislocated shoulder in a wave. She instantly regretted it, another shock of pain shooting through her body. _Gotta add a broken collarbone to the list,_ she thought grimly, trying to keep the painful smile on her face.

"You look like shit," Ikkaku commented as Yumichika got up from his seat and rushed to Buffy's side. He wrapped an arm around her waist and forced her to lean on him, taking the weight off of her bad knee as she did so.

"And you look like a horse's ass all the time," Buffy retorted as Yumichika began leading her to her room. "What's your point?"

"Not now, Buffy. Please, try to be civil," Yumichika said with a tired sigh as they entered her room. He had been dealing with the two of them snapping at each other for decades, and neither seemed to want to let up any time soon. He gingerly lay her down on the bed, propping her up with pillows as he did so. Even though he was being gentle, Buffy still winced in pain, causing Yumichika to frown. "Now, tell me what happened, and no lying. You know you're horrible at it."

"He started it, he always starts it," Buffy grumbled, rolling her eyes. _Crap, even rolling my eyes hurts!_ Buffy thought. _Must lie, must lie._ "I… uh… walked into a door."

"Bullshit," came a cough and snort from the door. Ikkaku leaned against the doorframe, a rare concerned expression on his face. To see Buffy like this, broken and bruised, did a number on him. It threw him to see the strong, independent woman he knew battered and broken. It was almost as bad as when Mayuri Kurotsuchi had kidnapped her when they had been in the academy. He still hadn't gotten the bastard back for doing that to Buffy, and he still hadn't forgiven Kisuke Urahara for letting the sadistic scientist out of the Nest of Maggots after kidnapping Buffy had gotten him thrown in there in the first place. "And Yumichika said no lying! Do you really wanna have me beat it out of you?"

"Ikkaku, not now!" Yumichika exclaimed, glaring at Ikkaku. It was rare that Yumichika got truly angry (he thought angry expressions were dreadfully ugly), but when it came to the safety of his sister all conventions of beauty were thrown out the window and he donned what Buffy had dubbed his "scary face". His expression softened when he turned his attention back to Buffy, who had an amused look on her face. "Tell me who did this to you and I swear I'll make them pay."

"That's sweet of you to say, but I told you, I walked into a door," Buffy replied sleepily. She was fighting to stay awake, her Slayer healing forcing her to sleep so that it could to its work. She yawned widely before continuing. "Let me sleep and I'll be fine in the morning, I promise. Benefits of having accelerated healing."

"Do you need anything?" Yumichika asked, his voice soft.

"No, I should be okay. If I do, I'll yell," Buffy replied. A small smile crossed her lips. "I'd probably throw something at Ikkaku to get your guys' attention, but I don't think my poor shoulder would be able to handle it."

"Hey!" Ikkaku exclaimed, but another look from Yumichika stopped him from saying anything else. This was serious, and definitely not a time to start bickering.

"Sleep well, little sister, we'll be here if you need us," Yumichika said with a caring smile as he ran his fingers soothingly through her hair a couple of times before getting up to leave. Ikkaku followed him after throwing one last look at Buffy, closing the door behind him.

"She's lying," Ikkaku said flatly when they reached the kitchen and sat down at the table.

"What was your first clue?" Yumichika asked, sighing heavily. "Was it the fact that she was one, a body sized bruise with numerous injuries? Or two, the fact that she can't lie to either of us, no matter how hard she tries?"

"Both," Ikkaku replied, slamming his fist into the table, making the utensils sitting there jump. "I bet it was that Himura bastard. He's had it in for Buffy since he met her."

"That's the guy she faced at the entrance exam, isn't it?" Yumichika asked. Ikkaku nodded, and Yumichika's expression turned grim. "Long enough time to hold a grudge, eh? Do you think we should go to the Captain about this?"

"Buffy will kill us if we do," Ikkaku said, just as grim. "She'd rather die than ask him for help. Being the only girl besides our vice-captain in this division kinda sucks. Unfortunately for Buffy, she doesn't get the constant protection Vice-Captain Kusajishi has. The kid's never out of Zaraki's sight!"

"Do you think we should have done more to convince her to stay at the academy and join another division?" Yumichika asked, worried.

"She's stubborn, you know that. She didn't want to stay at the academy, and anything we said wouldn't have changed her mind," Ikkaku replied, arching an eyebrow. "You can't make that woman do something she doesn't want to do, you should know that by now."

"Point taken," Yumichika said with a sigh. "But you're right, Buffy will kill us if we take this to the Captain. Or worse, hate our guts. But if we don't, she could die. Himura is known for being relentless, and he won't give up until she transfers out or she dies. I don't know about you, but I'd rather Buffy be alive, but hating me than dead. At least if she were alive, I can work at gaining her forgiveness. It might take a few centuries, but at least I'd have a chance."

"Good point," Ikkaku said with a sigh, suddenly feeling tired. "Should we go tell him now, or wait until morning?"

"I don't think we'd come out of it alive if we woke him up now," Yumichika replied with a grimace. "First thing in the morning we'll go and see him. Hopefully he'll be up early enough that we won't have to wake him up ourselves. Although he might be kind of upset about having to transfer Buffy out; she does do the paperwork the best."

"Is paperwork really a good enough reason to keep her here?" Ikkaku asked.

"No, it's not. I was just trying to inject some levity. Guess it didn't work, huh?" Yumichika replied. Ikkaku shook his head, his expression still serious. "Didn't think so. Are you heading home, or are you crashing here?"

"May as well crash here," Ikkaku said with a shrug. "It'll save time in the morning, anyway."

"All right, then," Yumichika said with a sigh. "Good night, Ikkaku, I'll see you in the morning. Well, later this morning."

"Back at ya," Ikkaku replied, flopping down on the sofa in the living room. He was out, snoring loudly, within moments. Yumichika smiled slightly to himself, marvelling at his friend's ability to fall asleep soundly nearly anywhere. He got up, grabbing the dishes on the table and placing them in the sink on his way out. He stopped at Buffy's room, sliding the door open so that he could see her. He could already see the bruises on her face healing and she was breathing easier; she was right, she probably would be fine in the morning. However, Slayer healing wouldn't fix death. Nothing would.

"I'm sorry this happened to you, little sister," he whispered sadly. "I only hope you can forgive me for trying to save your life."

He sighed, closing the door so that Buffy could sleep in peace before turning and heading to his bedroom, right next door. He flopped onto his bed, closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep, his dreams filled with death, destruction and kidnap centered around his sister.

XOXOXO

"Is she still asleep?" Ikkaku hissed in a low whisper the next morning as they were getting ready to leave.

"The last time I checked, yes," Yumichika replied.

"Well, check again," Ikkaku said, glancing at the closed bedroom door.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were paranoid," Yumichika said with a chuckle.

"Do you want Buffy finding out?" Ikkaku asked. "I don't know about you, but I really don't want to get my ass kicked before being tied up so that we can't go see the captain."

"That was a completely different situation," Yumichika said with a wave of his hand. "You weren't going to calm down until she made you sit down and think about what you were running off to do. Just think, if she hadn't, Iba probably wouldn't be here now."

"She shouldn't have run off and gotten drunk with him and Rangiku," Ikkaku said stubbornly.

"Well, whatever," Yumichika said with a sigh. "Come on, let's get out of here before Buffy finds out what we're up to and we have to lie to her."

"Yeah, let's do that," Ikkaku agreed. The two men left the apartment, stepping out into the bright spring sunshine.

The walk to the captain's quarters was a quiet one, both men contemplating what they were doing. There was a very real prospect of coming out of this with Buffy hating their guts, but at least she'd be alive and they'd be able to spend the next couple of decades begging for forgiveness. It was better than having her dead.

Reaching the Captain's quarters, Yumichika knocked on the door, praying that Captain Zaraki was awake and in a good mood. He didn't want to start this meeting off on the wrong foot, and that would certainly happen if Zaraki was already in a foul mood. Yumichika had a feeling that, even if Zaraki had been in a good mood at the start of the meeting, he wouldn't be in one by the end of it.

The door opened and they were greeted by a small, pink haired girl dressed in a Shinigami uniform. She had a vice-captain's badge on her arm, signifying she was the vice captain of the Eleventh Division. She smiled when she saw who was at the door.

"Ken-chan! Pretty Boy and Cue Ball are here to see you!" she exclaimed, rushing back into the office. Yumichika and Ikkaku shared a look; their young vice captain had a bad habit of giving people unwanted nicknames because she was too lazy to learn their real names. The only person they were aware of that she knew their real names were the Captain - although she insisted on calling him Ken-chan - and Buffy, whom she called Buffy-chan.

"Whaddaya want?" Zaraki asked. Well, he wasn't in a horrible mood, but he wasn't happy either. That probably had more to do with being interrupted than anything else.

"We'd like to talk to you about something," Yumichika said, taking a seat across the desk from Zaraki. Ikkaku took the other chair next to Yumichika. "It's about Buffy."

"Well, spit it out already, I don't got all day ya know," Zaraki said with a roll of his eyes.

"We think Buffy was attacked last night," Ikkaku said with a grimace.

"Yeah, and?" Zaraki asked. "She's a member of this division, prone to being attacked."

"We think she might have been attacked in an unfair fight," Yumichika continued. "She can usually take on two or three of our squad members with no problems whatsoever, but I think some dirty tactics were involved."

"Masato Himura is at the bottom of this, I know it," Ikkaku bit out viciously.

"Now, now, that's some pretty serious accusations you've got goin' on there," Zaraki said, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "Has Buffy said anything to you about it?"

"Well, no," Yumichika replied. "She said she walked into a door."

"Well, she might have," Zaraki said with a smirk. "She's a bit of a klutz, sometimes."

At the looks he was getting from two of his highest seated officers, Zaraki sighed. This was not going to go away with jokes and laughter, that much was for certain.

"If you want, I'll try to talk to her," he said with a sigh. "She might try to lie to you, but she knows I'll kick her ass if she tries with me."

"Thank you," Yumichika said as he stood and bowed in respect. "It's all we can ask of you."

"Nah, don't mention it. Buffy's kinda grown on me since she came here, I just wanna make sure she's doing okay," Zaraki said with a shrug. "I'll send Yachiru down to come and get her later this afternoon. You'll make sure she's healed up okay, right?"

"She's well on her way," Ikkaku replied as he got up. "Thank you."

"I said, don't mention it. I mean it," Zaraki said, waving it off. "I'm not doin' this for you, I'm doin' it for her. Yachiru kinda likes her, so it would be kinda bad if she died."

Ikkaku and Yumichika both nodded before turning and leaving the office, silently walking back to Yumichika's apartment to wait for Buffy to wake up.

Both men were wondering if they had just made a huge mistake.

XOXOXO

**So hi, I'm back. Did you miss me? Probably not, hahaha. So anyway, this is the first chapter in the shiny new fic in the series. Ain't it purdy? I'd love it if you all would tell me how much you either liked or hated it. Feedback is awesome.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It was the middle of the afternoon when a knock sounded on the apartment door. Buffy, who had been reading and drinking some tea on the sofa, waited a few moments before getting up to answer the door. It was really odd; both Yumichika and Ikkaku had been avoiding her since she had woken up. While it wasn't all that odd for Ikkaku to avoid her most of the time – she always seemed to be doing something to irritate him – it was strange for Yumichika to run and hide when she came near. She was sure they were hiding something. But what, she wasn't sure.

Buffy opened the apartment door, surprised to see a little girl with bright pink hair and big brown eyes grinning up at her. Any other time Buffy would have picked the little girl up and swung her around a couple of times before setting her back down, but she didn't think her shoulder would be up to it yet. Instead, she kneeled down to her level, smiling as she did so.

"Hiya Pixie!" Yachiru said happily, flinging herself at Buffy and wrapping her arms around her neck.

"Hey you," Buffy replied, patting the girl on the head. "What can I do for you today? Got any new toys for me to see or books you'd like me to read to you?"

"No, sorry," Yachiru said with a sad expression before perking up again. "Ken-chan asked me to come and get you because he wants to see you."

"Did he now?" Buffy asked, trying to remain calm as her blood ran cold. Why would the Captain want to see her? As far as she knew, she hadn't done anything to warrant the Captain's attention recently. The only thing she could think of was the incident from last night, but she hadn't told anyone about it and she was pretty sure her assailants wouldn't be blaring it about, either. She narrowed her eyes; if either Ikkaku or Yumichika went to the Captain about this, they were dead men.

"Pixie-chan?" Yachiru asked, sounding worried. Buffy blinked, momentarily forgetting about the little girl in front of her. "Is something wrong? You look like you're gonna kill someone. Hey, can I watch?"

"Nope, I'm fine," Buffy replied, smiling, wondering, not for the first time, how this sweet little girl could enjoy watching someone be killed in battle. She chalked it up to being stuck with the captain for so long; Yachiru and Kenpachi had been together longer than she, Ikkaku and Yumichika had. She got up and took Yachiru by the hand and led her out of the apartment. "Come on, let's go see what Captain Zaraki wants with me."

Yachiru babbled as they walked to the Captain's office; Buffy had learned long ago to tune most of it out, because most of the time she talked about nonsense anyway. Buffy still had a slight limp due to her knee, but she really hoped her Captain wouldn't notice. Before long, Yachiru was pushing the door to the Captain's office open and bounding in, an exuberant grin on her face.

"Ken-chan! Pixie's here!"

Captain Kenpachi Zaraki looked up from the work on his desk, a serious expression on his face. He had been doing some research, something that he didn't want to do, but it was necessary if it came down to transferring Buffy to another squad.

"Come in, sit," he said seriously, gesturing to the chairs in front of the desk. Buffy walked across the room, aware of the eyes watching her and trying hard not to limp or show any kind of weakness.

"What can I do for you, boss-man?" Buffy asked carefully, sitting down gingerly in the offered chair.

"I have something serious I want to discuss with you," Zaraki began before looking at Yachiru. "Yachiru! Go to your room for bit, I have to talk to Buffy. Alone."

"Do I have to?" Yachiru asked, her voice almost taking on a whiny tone. One expression from Zaraki had Yachiru out of the room and the sound of a door slamming shut was heard a moment later.

"Now that we're alone, I have something serious I want to discuss with you," Zaraki continued. "I'll cut right to the chase, because I know you would do the same with me. I've been hearing you're having some problems here."

"Who told you that?" Buffy asked, trying to remain calm but there was no use denying it. She would be in for an ass kicking to end all ass kickings if she lied to her captain, which wasn't something she wanted to do.

"I've just heard some things, seen some things," Zaraki replied. Buffy gave him a blank look. "Don't look at me like that, I'm not stupid. I know when to spot problems when they come up. How did you get that bruise on your face?"

"Walked into a door," Buffy replied automatically.

"And that limp?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Banged my knee into a table when I got up this morning."

Zaraki sighed; he didn't think Buffy was going to lie to him, but apparently he was wrong. He would have to be far more direct with Buffy, something he had hoped she would do on her own.

"Really now," Zaraki said calmly, sitting back in his chair and propping his feet up on his desk. "Because I've heard from a couple little birdies that you were attacked last night. Wanna tell me about it?"

"No," Buffy replied, seething. She couldn't believe they would do this to her! They were always meddling in her life, trying to control it.

"If you don't tell me, I can't make sure that the people who did this to you are brought to their proper punishment," Zaraki said quietly. "You know I usually let the squad deal with their own problems, but this is different. I know it is. But I can't help you if you don't 'fess up."

"Himura hired some guy from another squad to bind me with Kido and then had three others beat the crap out of me," Buffy deadpanned. Zaraki's eyes widened. Three on one he could understand and even tolerate, but using Kido to bind first? That was wrong and completely inexcusable. Battles were supposed to be fought one on one, not three on one with the one at a clear disadvantage.

"I see," Zaraki said. He sighed and rubbed his eyes with his hand in an expression of exhaustion. "I don't want to do this, I really don't want to lose a fighter like you, but it has to be done for your own safety."

"What has to be done for my own safety?" Buffy asked, her eyes narrowing.

"I'm going to have to transfer you," Zaraki replied. Buffy was livid at that, snarling under her breath and transforming into some sort of feral person when the words hit her. "I'm sorry, Buffy, but if I don't do this, you're probably gonna die at the hands of Himura. Never liked the shit, never seemed to have any honour. Pulling this kind of shit definitely proves it."

"They're dead," she growled, getting up from her chair and storming out of the office. She flash stepped to her apartment, storming in and searching to make sure neither her brother nor Ikkaku were there. When she determined that they weren't there, she crumpled onto her bed, burying her face into her pillow, the angry tears streaming hotly down her face.

This wasn't even the first time they had meddled. The first time had been at the welcome to the party shindig when they had been initially accepted at the academy. Then there were the boys who paid attention to her; one day they would be talking to her as if everything were fine, and the next they would be avoiding her like the plague. It wasn't too difficult for Buffy to put two and two together. Then there was that time she had gotten drunk with Rangiku and Iba a while back and had crashed at Iba's place. The next morning she had been dragged out like a sack of potatoes before being lectured soundly about going home with strange men she barely knew, although she'd known Iba since the beginning. They might be closer to him now, but she met him first!

This, however, was one of the worst things they had done. Did they think she couldn't handle her own problems? Did they really think she was incapable of asking for help, and automatically felt the need to intervene on her behalf? Of course, she hadn't planned on going to the Captain, not yet, but did they think to ask her about it? No!

Buffy lay on her bed until night fell, and she didn't move when she heard someone knock on the door. She made no indication that she heard anyone enter and it wasn't until she heard a voice at her bedroom door that she moved at all.

"Buffy, what's wrong?" Buffy's best friend, Rangiku, asked, sitting next to Buffy on the bed. Buffy sat up, sniffling, her eyes red and puffy. Rangiku enveloped her in a hug, stroking her hair affectionately as she did so. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Boys are so stupid sometimes," Buffy said with a sniff, burying her face in Rangiku's neck.

"What did they do this time?" Rangiku asked with a sigh. She should have known; there were only two males in the entire Gotei 13 who could get Buffy acting like this.

"Something happened last night, Yumi and Kakku found out, they told Captain Zaraki and now I'm being transferred," Buffy wailed, sniffling again.

"And what, exactly, happened last night that had Ikkaku and Yumichika running to your captain?" Rangiku asked, hoping it wasn't too serious. Those boys did have a habit of overreacting when it came to Buffy, but this definitely sounded serious, more serious than anything that had happened to Buffy in the past.

"I kind of got into a little fight," Buffy replied sheepishly. Rangiku pinned her with a look, eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Okay, it was more than a little fight. I got jumped while on patrol last night and came home a little worse for wear."

Rangiku released Buffy from the embrace and held her at arm's length, examining her face and anything else she could see without taking Buffy's clothes off.

"I'm fine Rangiku, I swear!" Buffy said quickly, uncomfortable under the scrutiny.

"How badly were you injured?" Rangiku asked, her pale blue eyes concerned. Out of everyone she knew and every expression used to get her to tell the truth, Rangiku's was the one that worked the best by far. Mostly because she knew Rangiku wouldn't go running and tattling unless she thought that her life with in dire danger, but also because she was another woman.

"Um, well," Buffy waffled, only to be cowed by the stern glare sent her way. "I think it was tallied at a broken collarbone, several cracked ribs, a dislocated shoulder, a dislocated knee and lots of bumps and bruises."

"You think?" Rangiku asked, arching an eyebrow. "Didn't you go and see someone at the Fourth Division?"

"You know I hate hospitals. Captain Unohana still scares the crap out of me," Buffy replied, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "And hey, look, I'm healed up good as new. The only things that still hurt are the shoulder that got dislocated and my knee. I'm fine, I swear!"

"Well, if you insist," Rangiku said, still looking unsure. "But I think your boys have the right idea in telling your captain about what happened."

"You're not serious, are you?" Buffy balked, her eyes widening. "You're actually taking their side instead of mine?"

"I'm serious about my friends' safety, Buffy," Rangiku replied seriously. "If I had known, you bet your ass I would have marched down and talked to your captain. I wouldn't have even waited until morning like those two morons probably did."

"I wouldn't know, I slept until noon," Buffy replied sheepishly. Rangiku giggled. "What?"

"The fact that you're ashamed of sleeping until noon," Rangiku replied with a snicker. "It's funny."

"Oh shut up, you silly lush," Buffy retorted with a snort.

"Hey, it's not my fault I know how to have fun and you don't!" Rangiku replied with a huff, crossing her arms across her chest. "So, do you know where you're headed yet?"

"Nope," Buffy replied, sobering a little. "But I really don't want to talk about it. Do you have any plans tonight?"

"Well, I was going to go drinking," Rangiku replied. "Shuuhei said he wanted to hang out, and I think Iba was interested too. But if you'd rather me stay here with you, I can cancel and spend some time with you instead."

"No, no, that's totally fine with me," Buffy replied with a grin. "Maybe I'll be able to drink enough to forget this whole shitty day."

"That's the spirit!" Rangiku said, bouncing up and down happily, clapping her hands. "You can even crash at my place if you don't want to come back here and deal with the butthole boys."

"Oh God, that gave me the worst mental picture ever," Buffy said with a groan, covering her eyes with her hands. "I think I might need mind bleach or something."

"Hey, it's not my fault you have a dirty mind," Rangiku said with a grin. "You go clean yourself up and I'll pick out something cute for you to wear, because I'm not letting you out of here wearing your uniform."

Buffy sighed and headed to her bathroom as Rangiku began raiding the closet, picking out several outfits for Buffy to choose from and asking if she could borrow a couple of things for their "date" because she was too lazy to go home and raid her own closet. Buffy laughed, wondering how she would have gotten by without her best friend and her crazy antics.

The next morning, Buffy came home feeling much better. She had had a very good evening; Iba always seemed to cheer her up, and Rangiku's new friend, Shuuhei Hisagi, seemed like a decent sort, even if he was still a student. He was so close to graduation and already had a seated position waiting for him after the ceremony, but he was still a student. Even Captains Kyoraku and Ukitake had joined them, which had been an interesting experience all on its own. Who knew Shunsui Kyoraku enjoyed his drink so much?

Smiling as she entered her apartment, still dressed in the green and blue silk kimono she had worn the previous night, she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Ikkaku and Yumichika sitting in her living room. The smile was wiped from her face immediately as she stalked to her room, sliding the door halfway shut as she did. It would have been slid completely shut, but the sight of an envelope on her bed made her stop short.

Crossing the room, she picked up the envelope and tore it open. Somewhat neat writing filled the page; it was obvious a man had written it by the handwriting. Scanning the note, she got the gist of what it said, scowling at the information.

"Uh, Buffy?"

Buffy glared at the source of the voice; Yumichika had poked his head in the door, although he looked about ready to bolt if Buffy decided to go after him. Or throw something at him.

"What, have you come to tell me that you managed to get me kicked out of the Gotei 13 because you think all of the squads are too dangerous?" Buffy asked, glaring at him.

"Still mad at me, huh?" Yumichika asked, not moving to enter the room completely. Having known Buffy for as long as he had, he knew that encroaching on her space when she didn't want you to was a Very Bad Idea.

"What was your first clue?" Buffy asked, breathing deeply to remain calm. There was no use in screaming at him, or Ikkaku, even if it would make her feel better in the short term. The damage was already done; her transfer order had already come in and she started at her new division in a couple of days.

"So, where are you headed?" Yumichika asked carefully, not wanting to upset his sister.

"Thirteenth Division," Buffy replied flatly, tossing the letter back to where she had found it before she sat on the bed.

"Hey, there's lots of real world missions in that division," Yumichika said hopefully. "Maybe you'll see more action over there."

"I guess," Buffy replied sadly.

"Do you need any help packing?" Yumichika asked, desperate to get any kind of reaction out of her. It was strange, seeing Buffy so emotionless. What had happened to the passionate, fiery woman he had adopted as his little sister so many years ago? Had the attack affected her that much?

"Rangiku already offered," Buffy replied with a shrug. "It's not like I have a huge amount of stuff or anything like that. I should be okay on my own."

"Well, if you're sure," Yumichika said uncertainly.

"Yep, perfectly sure," Buffy replied with a quick, self-assured nod. With one last concerned expression, Yumichika turned and left the room, sliding the door shut behind him.

She sighed and surveyed the room and the objects in it. For someone who had been living in the same space for fifty five years, Buffy didn't have a lot of material possessions, and for some reason, she liked it that way. There were photographs documenting her years at the academy and the Gotei 13; there were a fair share where she, Yumichika and Ikkaku were hamming it up for the cameras. Besides the photographs, the only items she owned were a couple of pieces of jewellery, some cosmetics and her clothing. And, her most prized possession, her Zanpakuto.

"Well, I might as well get this over and done with," Buffy said to herself with a sigh. She went to her closet and grabbed her suitcases flipping them open onto the bed. The good thing about where she lived was that the clothes never really went out of style. Sometimes there were colors that were more popular than others at certain times, but for the most part Buffy's wardrobe had served her fine these last few years.

Buffy had almost packed all of her clothes when a knock sounded at her door. She waited for the door to open, as neither Yumichika nor Ikkaku waited until she told them to come in, and when the door didn't open she wondered who it could be. Crossing the room, she opened the door, surprised to see her vice-captain standing there, looking up at her with a serious expression on her face.

"Hi Yachiru, what can I do for you?" Buffy asked, noticing a distinct lack of books on tow. Most of the time the girl came to Buffy so that she could read to her or play with her, so it was odd to see Yachiru without a book or toy in her hands.

"Pixie-chan is sad," Yachiru said with a frown. Buffy ushered the girl inside her room, shutting the door behind her.

"What makes you think that?" Buffy asked, as she latched one of her suitcases before placing it onto the floor. She sat down on the bed, patting the spot next to her in invitation. Yachiru climbed up onto the bed and sat next to Buffy, looking up at her with wide, brown eyes.

"Pixie-chan is sad because she has to go away," Yachiru replied. "But you shouldn't be sad."

"Why is that?" Buffy asked, curious as to Yachiru's reasoning.

"You shouldn't be sad because she has lots of people who care about her and want her to be safe," Yachiru replied. "Cue-ball and Pretty Boy and Ken-chan and me. And others too, but they're not as important."

Buffy laughed softly at Yachiru's nicknames for Ikkaku and Yumichika; the girl was helpless with names most of the time. Either that or she was just lazy; Buffy never bothered to find out because she knew Yachiru knew her name, although she preferred using Pixie and Pixie-chan.

"Will I be able to come and see you after you move?" Yachiru asked. "I go and visit Ukki all the time because he gives me candy, but I wanna come and see you too."

"Of course you can come and see me, as long as you don't bring the two idiots," Buffy replied, patting Yachiru on the head.

"They were only trying to help you, Buffy-chan," Yachiru said. "They didn't want you to die or get hurt anymore. Please Buffy-chan, can't you see they love you and want you to be safe?"

"They sure do have a funny way of showing it," Buffy replied with a snort. "And Ikkaku doesn't love me, kiddo. Yumichika does, but Ikkaku doesn't."

"I think you're wrong, Pixie-chan," Yachiru said quietly. "And I think you love him back."

"It doesn't matter what I feel," Buffy said, her voice sad. "Hey, it's getting late. Do you need me to walk you home?"

"No, Ken-chan's coming to get me in a little bit," Yachiru replied. "Do you have any sweets I can have before I go?"

"Is the grass green and the sky blue?" Buffy asked by way of reply. The cupboards could be empty of any real food, but Buffy made sure that there was a small candy supply hidden in her room for her favourite vice-captain. She had to keep it in her room, otherwise Ikkaku would probably swipe it, and even so there were times when Buffy would go looking for it only to find it missing, and Ikkaku had suspiciously acquired a bag of sweets shortly before the discovery was made.

"Yay!" Yachiru exclaimed happily as Buffy extracted a bag of candy from her bedside table.

"Here, share it with Captain Zaraki," Buffy said, handing the bag to Yachiru. The bag of candy was relinquished not a moment too soon, because at that moment she heard a voice from the front door.

"Oi, Yachiru, get out here!"

"That's Ken-chan coming to get me," Yachiru said, before throwing her arms around Buffy's neck. "I'm gonna miss you, Pixie-chan."

"You're talking like I'm leaving forever," Buffy said with a laugh. "I'm just moving a little way away and you can come and visit me any time you want."

"Okay," Yachiru said, releasing the hold she had around Buffy's neck and bolting from the room so that Zaraki could take her home. "'Bye Pixie-chan!"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The next morning Buffy was up with the sun, surprisingly alert and awake for someone who had spent the majority of the night packing. Her pictures had been taken off of the walls, her clothes and jewellery had been packed away. The only things that would remain were the furniture, because it had been there when she had moved in and it wasn't really her right to take it. Besides, she had no one to help her move anyway, as she wasn't going to ask Yumichika or Ikkaku for help, not when she was still mad at them.

Buffy poked her head out her bedroom door, checking to make sure neither her brother nor Ikkaku were around. The apartment was quiet, not even the sound of snoring coming from her brother's room. Yumichika staunchly denied it, claiming pretty people didn't snore, but it sure wasn't Buffy that rattled the walls with a nasal symphony. She wished that, just once, she could record him snoring to catch him in his lie. Oh well, now she wasn't going to be able to.

Tiptoeing out of her room, suitcases in her hands, she made her way into the kitchen-slash-living area. She dropped her bags by the front door before going back into the kitchen, hoping that Ikkaku hadn't cleaned their cupboards out again. She was surprised to see a plate of her favourite red bean paste buns sitting on the counter, with a note from Yumichika wishing her luck in her new squad. Damn, Yumichika was making it hard for her to stay mad at him. He rarely cooked anymore, and it was even a rarer treat for him to make the red bean paste buns she liked so much. Grabbing one, she took a bite out of it just as a knock came from the front door.

Opening the door, Buffy was surprised to see two people kneeling in front of the door out of respect. _Oh God, no,_ Buffy thought with a roll of her eyes. _I really hope Thirteenth Division isn't always this formal, otherwise I'm never gonna fit in!_ Being a member of the Eleventh Division – well, former member now – Buffy had gotten used to being really informal with her fellow division mates. Usually no titles or honorifics were used, unless it was the really junior officers addressing the senior officers, and even then most senior officers insisted being called by their surname only, or their first name.

"Fourth seat Ayasegawa!" one of the people said, obviously female, her head still bowed down. "I am Aya Hamano and this is Shogo Ishimaru. We are from the Thirteenth Division, here to help you with your transition to your new division!"

Buffy sighed and rolled her eyes again; she had a feeling that she would have a bit of a time trying to convince everyone to call her by either Buffy or Ayasegawa. She did, however, smile slightly at the title; in the letter, Zaraki had explained why she was headed to the Thirteenth Division. He had searched for a Division that had an open fourth seat position, as well as a captain who would be agreeable to letting an outsider take that position instead of promoting one of his or her own officers. Jyuushiro Ukitake was the only captain willing to let an outsider transfer into a high level position, so that was where Buffy was headed.

"Uh, thanks guys?" Buffy said, unsure. She wasn't used to having a welcoming committee. Her 'welcome' to the Eleventh Division had hardly been a welcome at all. She'd snuck into a meeting with her boys and got into a fight with Himura to prove that she wasn't just some little girl just trying to play with the big boys. "But I was planning on moving myself. I don't have a lot of stuff and I can carry it on my own."

"Captain Ukitake insisted that we make your transition as smooth and as comfortable as possible, Ayasegawa-san," Shogo said, his head also bowed.

"Well, if you want to make me comfortable, don't call me Ayasegawa-san," Buffy replied. "Buffy's fine, but if you really need formality, you can call me Ayasegawa. And stop kneeling with your head bowed, I'm not that important. I'm a Shinigami, just like you."

Both Shogo's and Aya's heads shot up in surprise at those words. Both seemed to be speechless.

"It's not disrespectful if you're asked to call someone a specific name," Buffy reasoned with a reassuring smile.

Still shocked, both members of the Thirteenth Division smiled nervously in return and nodded in agreement.

"Captain Ukitake insisted that we help you with your things," Shogo said, getting to his feet before helping Aya to her own. "If you have any furniture we can get a couple more members of the division to help."

"Nope, just the suitcases," Buffy replied, pointing to the bags next to her. "I didn't expect to move until later, though."

"Captain Ukitake wanted to make sure you were settled in as soon as possible," Aya replied. "He was also told that you were a morning person and would most likely be up. If you prefer, we can come back later."

"I don't mind, but my brother might have if he were home," Buffy replied, smirking a bit. It would have been kind of fun to wake him up at the crack of dawn, just to get back at him. "Well, we might as well get this over with. You guys grab one bag each and I'll grab the last two."

"Please, Ayasegawa-san, let us take them all, you'll have enough to worry about when you arrive," Shogo replied, before realizing what he had said. His eyes widened in surprise, before he quickly bowed his head out of respect. "I'm sorry for the disrespect, sir! Please forgive me!"

"The only part of that that's going to annoy me is the fact that you called me Ayasegawa-san," Buffy replied with a roll of her eyes. "Okay, if that's what you guys were told by the Captain, I'm not going to override his orders."

"Thank you, Ayasegawa-san!" Aya said, bowing once before she and Shogo came forward and grabbed two suitcases each. _Yep, gonna have a hell of a time convincing people that formality annoys the crap out of me,_ Buffy thought with a sigh as she followed her guides out onto the walkway. She turned and looked at her apartment one last time, running back to grab the plate of buns she had left on the counter, before closing the door behind her.

The walk to the Thirteenth Division's barracks was a quiet one, with most of the Gotei 13 still asleep in their beds. There were a few people patrolling, but as soon as their gazes fell on Buffy they averted her eyes, her reputation having preceded her. _Maybe switching squads will be a good thing after all,_ Buffy thought. _Maybe I won't have so many people scared shitless of me._

It wasn't long before they reached the Thirteenth Division barracks. Standing in front of the large double doors emblazoned with the number 13 were three people; a tall man with long, white hair and a kind face, a slightly shorter man with short, spiky dark hair and a roguish grin, and a diminutive woman with long, dark hair and a welcoming face.

"Welcome, Fourth Seat Ayasegawa! Long time, no see!" the white-haired man said with a cheeky grin and a friendly wave as she arrived with Aya and Shogo. Buffy fought down the blush that tried to stain her cheeks; she had almost forgotten he had seen her half drunk and openly flirting with Captain Kyoraku only a few nights ago. He turned to the two officers who had helped her with her bags. "Ishimaru-san, Hamano-san, thank you for helping. Please put Ayasegawa-san's bags in her rooms. I'll have someone show her to them later."

The two young officers nodded their assent and entered the barracks, Buffy's bags on tow. Captain Ukitake turned to her, a welcoming smile on his face.

"Welcome, Ayasegawa-san, to the Thirteenth Division. I only wish your appointment had been under better circumstances. As you already know, I'm Captain Jyuushiro Ukitake, and this is my Vice-Captain Kaien Shiba and my third seat, Miyako Shiba," Ukitake said, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. "We're waiting for one more person, another recent appointment to the squad and once she gets here we'll go inside and show you two around."

"Sounds fair, Captain Ukitake," Buffy said with a nod of her head, her expression neutral. Just then she saw who they had been waiting for. A tall man, with long dark hair dressed in the standard Shinigami uniform with a captain's haori over top, was walking towards them. His expression was neutral, indifferent, a far cry from when he was a hot headed teenager freshly knocked on his ass by a tiny girl. While Buffy had heard about his appointment to Sixth Division Captain, seeing him in a haori just seemed strange. Walking next to him was a short woman, girl really, who was even shorter than Buffy's five feet, one inch. The duo arrived soon enough, and the man looked down at Buffy as they did so. His expression didn't change, cool and indifferent. She supposed that three years was a drop in the bucket when compared to the near sixty it had been since they had first met.

God, thinking about that made her feel so old.

"We meet again, Ayasegawa-san," he said, bowing as he saw her.

"Cut the 'san' crap, Byakuya, you know how much I hate it," Buffy replied with a pout. It had been a long time since she had seen him, and even longer since they had spoken. Their friendship had ended on not so great terms. "You look good."

"That's Captain Kuchiki to you, Ayasegawa-san," Byakuya said, narrowing his eyes at her. Obviously, he was still angry with her because she had chosen her family, the outlaws, over him.

"Right, of course. You got made captain, and what did it get you?" Buffy asked. "That stick shoved even further up your ass. Where's the end of it now? Poking you in the liver?"

"And you haven't changed a bit," Byakuya said darkly. His eyes narrowed even further and a standoff began. It was an odd sight; tiny, five-foot-two Buffy Ayasegawa staring down the nearly six foot tall captain, and it looked like neither of them were going to back down. In fact, if no one had distracted them, they might have stood there all day, glaring at each other.

"Ah, so this is Rukia, your sister?" Ukitake interjected, breaking up the awkward moment. Buffy's eyes widened when she heard this. Sister? Since when did he have a sister? She was sure Byakuya was an only child. Something fishy was going on here. What, Buffy wasn't sure, but there was something.

"Yes, this is my sister, Rukia Kuchiki," Byakuya said, pushing the small girl forward a bit. "I put her in your capable hands, Captain Ukitake."

"We'll take care of her here," Ukitake replied, smiling warmly at the younger Shinigami. "Hey, maybe our two newest members will become close and bond!"

The look on Rukia's face told Buffy that was far from likely, but Ukitake didn't seem to notice. There could be several reasons why the younger girl was glaring daggers at her. Buffy was curious as to which one it was, but could find that out later.

"Then I leave you here, I have much work in my own division," Byakuya said patting Rukia on the shoulder before turning and leaving.

"Well, let's get this tour started, shall we?" Ukitake began, before he broke into a coughing fit. He brought a handkerchief to his mouth to cover it until the coughing subsided. He laughed nervously, covering his mouth with his hand. "Well, it looks like I won't be going on the tour with you after all. Miyako-san, Kaien-san, I'm going to go lie down for a bit. I trust these two in your capable hands."

"Sure thing, Captain. Feel better," Kaien replied, waving as Ukitake walked off, stifling his coughing. "Now then, let's get around to showing you two around, eh? Oh yeah, I know Captain Ukitake already introduced us, but I'm Kaien Shiba, and this is my wife Miyako."

"Rukia Kuchiki," the girl, Rukia, said with a curt nod.

"Buffy Ayasegawa," Buffy greeted.

"Never thought I'd get to meet the only other female in the eleventh division," Kaien said with a grin, looking her up and down. "Though I thought you'd be taller."

"Just because I'm small doesn't mean I'm not dangerous," Buffy replied. "I didn't get to the fourth seat of the eleventh division on my charm or looks. Some say I got the position in spite of those things."

"If you worked so hard to get that high up, why are you transferring?" Kaien asked, arching an eyebrow.

"If I had a choice, I wouldn't have transferred," Buffy replied coolly. "Now, wasn't there a tour to be had?"

"Right, of course," Kaien said, growing uncomfortable. "Miyako, sweetheart, would you like to do the honours? You're so much better at explaining things than I am."

Miyako smiled indulgently at Kaien, reaching up and stroking his hair affectionately before turning and beginning the tour. She pointed people and places out, explaining who they were and what the particular building was. After a while Buffy tuned her out a little; most divisions were set up almost the same way, although this one had a garden while the eleventh division had an outdoor training ground. This division had one as well, but it wasn't as large as the eleventh division's on account of the garden.

"And that brings us to the barracks," Miyako concluded. "As it turns out, you two will be living next door to each other because those are, unfortunately, the only two single rooms left. If you'd like a room mate we can relocate you, but I thought you might want your own space and Captain Ukitake agreed with me. Ayasegawa-san, you're on the right, and Kuchiki-san is on the left. I'll leave you here for now. If there's anything you require, please let myself or Kaien know."

"Thank you, Miyako-san," Buffy said, her voice quiet. She would have called her Shiba-san, but because there were two Shibas, she thought it would be easier to call them by their first names.

"Oh please, just call me Miyako," Miyako replied with a smile. "We're close enough in rank that we can be less formal with each other. You're free to call me Miyako too, if you wish, Rukia."

"Thank you, Miyako-dono," Rukia said quietly, bowing.

"You're welcome," Miyako said with a smile. "There's a division meeting later this afternoon. I'll send Ishimaru-san or Hamano-san to take you two to the meeting. Will that be all right?"

"That's fine, Miyako-san," Buffy replied with a nod. Miyako's smile faltered a little, but it was back in place in full force a moment later.

"Well then, I'll see you both at the meeting this afternoon!" she said, waving at them before turning to leave, taking Kaien with her. Buffy and Rukia were alone together.

Buffy looked at Rukia. Rukia looked at Buffy. It was like they were sizing each other up. Buffy didn't know what Rukia was thinking, but Buffy was examining the girl. She didn't look a lot like Byakuya, although their eyes were almost the same color. She almost looked like Byakuya's late wife, Hisana, whom she had seen a couple of times, but had never formally met. She was constantly ill and didn't leave the Kuchiki manor a lot when she was alive.

"Why were you being so disrespectful to Nii-sama?" Rukia asked, her eyes hard.

"Me and your brother go _way _back," Buffy replied. "I've known him since he was a kid in the academy."

"You don't seem to get along," Rukia said, her eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"How about we get off this walkway?" Buffy suggested. "I don't want to have this conversation where prying ears can listen in. Sound fair?"

"Yes," Rukia said. Buffy led the younger girl into her apartment, giving Rukia a non-verbal invitation. Even though the only vampire she had ever seen in Seiretei had been the one Mayuri Kurotsuchi – now Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi, much to Buffy's chagrin – had procured, old habits died hard. Very hard.

Buffy gestured to the couch as she took in her surroundings. The apartment was small and rather bare, but then again she wasn't sharing with anyone so she didn't need the extra space. It would be filled with her things soon enough; she could see that her suitcases were already in her room, waiting to be unpacked.

"So, you have questions," Buffy said as she sat down next to Rukia on the sofa. It wasn't a question.

"Am I that transparent?" Rukia asked.

"You have question face," Buffy replied. "So, ask. I'm probably going to regret this, but I'll answer anything you ask unless I deem it too personal."

"Why?" Rukia asked. "Why are you allowing me to question you?"

"I want you to be informed before you decide whether or not to hate me," Buffy replied. "Now, with the questions. Limited time offer here, so start asking."

"Why do you hate Nii-sama?" Rukia asked.

"You go straight for the heart, don't you?" Buffy asked.

"If this is too personal…" Rukia trailed off, but Buffy shook her head.

"Definitely not. It's not a very well known story, but it's one that you should probably know," Buffy replied, taking a deep breath. "I'll start by saying that I don't hate him. Far from it. If anything, he hates me."

"But… but…" Rukia began, but Buffy held up her hand.

"Let me finish, 'kay?" Buffy said. Rukia nodded. "I've known Byakuya since we were in the academy together. Same class, same year. We were partners in the combat class and even worked together outside of classes. For three years he and I were pretty close, even if your grandfather didn't like me all that much. He was even on the rescue crew when I got kidnapped. Then, my brother and his best friend got arrested for attacking a seated squad member near the beginning of our third year at the academy. Byakuya gave me an ultimatum – drop them, or he walks. I chose to stick by my family, and I don't think he ever forgave me."

"What happened next?" Rukia asked, transfixed.

"The Captain Commander said that if the boys couldn't find a squad to take them, they would be expelled from Seiretei permanently. He probably thought none of the captains would be dumb enough to take on two felons," Buffy replied with a snort. "What he didn't count on was Captain Zaraki. I had to fight my way in, literally, but I left the academy and went to the Eleventh Division. Up until a couple of days ago, I thought I'd stay there for the rest of my life."

"What happened?" Rukia asked.

"Sad as it sounds, I got the crap beaten out of me," Buffy replied with a sigh. "Yumichika and Ikkaku thought I was going to die if I stayed there and went to talk to the captain. He decided to have me transferred and this was the only squad that would take me without demoting me. So, are you a recent graduate?"

"I shouldn't be," Rukia replied. "I'm supposed to have five more years at the academy."

"Oh yeah?" Buffy asked, leaning back in her seat. "What happened?"

"After Nii-sama adopted me, he made sure I graduated right away so that he would be able to keep a better eye on me," Rukia replied.

"So, you're not related to Byakuya by blood?" Buffy asked. Rukia shook her head. "Where are you from?"

"District 78 of Rukongai," Rukia replied.

"Wow," Buffy said.

"Wow what?" Rukia shot back.

"I told Byakuya the day he broke the rules for someone was the day I'd laugh my ass off at him," Buffy replied. "Funnily enough, I'm not feeling the laughter."

"Why would you laugh at him?" Rukia asked.

"He said he never would," Buffy replied. "He said that he would turn in any family member that broke the law and would not break the rules. By adopting you, I'm pretty sure he broke a ton. Ginrei probably isn't too happy with him. If he's still alive, that is."

"He's still alive," Rukia said. "He hasn't spoken to me very much yet."

"Still a man of few words," Buffy remarked with a sigh.

"So, if you've been in the Thirteen Squads for as long as Nii-sama, why aren't you a captain too?" Rukia asked, curious.

"As I said, I thought I was going to be in the Eleventh Division for the rest of my life," Buffy replied with a shrug. "Not a lot of room for advancement there – there's no way Ikkaku would give up his seat and I'm not crazy enough to try and take the lieutenant or captain positions in that squad."

"Why didn't you leave before then?" Rukia asked.

"I was happy. And someone had to keep those boys of mine in line and I couldn't really do it from another squad, now could I?" Buffy asked. She sighed. "Maybe it's about time I flew from the nest. We've been attached at the hip for nearly sixty years. So, did you have anyone like that?"

"Like what?" Rukia asked.

"Been together forever you never thought you'd be apart," Buffy replied.

"There was one. Renji," Rukia replied. "We've known each other since we were children, running around Rukongai until we realized we had the power and capability to become Shinigami. We got split up after the entrance exam, started drifting apart a bit. Then I got adopted and he stopped talking to me."

"One of those crazy people who thinks you're better off without him," Buffy muttered with a sigh. "You want me to knock some sense into him? He's probably heard about me by now."

"I don't think that will be necessary," Rukia said with a soft, amused smile. She got up from her seat. "Thank you for this, Buffy-dono. It's been illuminating. I'll see you at the meeting?"

"Nice getting to know you," Buffy replied. "See you later."

Rukia left, but before the door could even slide completely shut, Rangiku pushed her way into the apartment, flopping down in Rukia's abandoned seat. Buffy blinked at her best female friend for a few moments before speaking.

"Sure, come on in," Buffy said, a note of sarcasm in her voice.

"I thought the open door policy still stood, even though you moved out," Rangiku replied with a shrug. "If it isn't, I can go back and knock on the door."

"It's just surprising that people were able to track me down so easily," Buffy replied with a shrug. "Thought I'd have a little more time to myself before y'all came pounding on my door."

"It wasn't too difficult for me," Rangiku said. "All I had to do was talk to a nice looking boy and he gladly pointed me in the right direction. Mind you, he did speak more to my chest than to my face. I mean, hel-_lo_, my eyes are up here."

"Well, if your boobs weren't hanging out people would look you in the eye instead of your cleavage," Buffy said with a shrug.

"I shouldn't have to cover up because men are pigs," Rangiku replied with a snort. "Besides, the pros more than outweigh the cons. You know, if you showed a little something-something you'd probably get more free or cheap drinks at the bar."

"And have every straight guy around here staring at my boobs, which would then cause every straight guy get the crap beaten out of them?" Buffy asked, arching an eyebrow. "No thanks."

"While most of the time their over protectiveness is a good thing, that particular situation is not one of them," Rangiku said. "So, do you have plans tonight?"

"I was going to stay in," Buffy replied with a shrug. "I mean, we've got a meeting this afternoon, but after that I've got nothing."

"You and I need to go out," Rangiku replied. "It'll be fun, I promise."

"Sounds good," Buffy said, as there was a knock on the door. Buffy went to answer it, revealing Shogo standing in the walkway. He caught sight of Rangiku and blushed.

"I'm here to take you to the meeting," he said.

"How about you go grab Rukia and I'll be out in a minute," Buffy suggested.

"I'll come and pick you up in a couple of hours," Rangiku said with a grin before leaving, blowing Shogo a kiss as she left, causing his cheeks to redden further.

"Sure, see you later," Buffy said, before joining Shogo and Rukia on the walkway, ready to go to the meeting. "Lead the way."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

They entered the meeting room to find that it was mostly full already. Everyone was talking; it was very noisy. Perfect for Buffy to hide in the background until the meeting was over, to only make a quick escape before anyone could see her.

At least, that was the plan. It was funny how plans sometimes went to hell when you least expected them.

Before long, Captain Ukitake was standing on the raised platform at the front of the room, and while most of the noise had died down, there was still a low hum of chatter throughout the room.

"I have called this special division meeting to welcome our two newest members," Captain Ukitake began with a smile. "I would like to introduce you to Buffy Ayasegawa, coming to us from the Eleventh Division, and Rukia Kuchiki, a fresh recruit from the Shinigami Academy. Ayasegawa-san, would you like to come up and say a few words to tell us a little about yourself?"

_I'd rather not_, Buffy thought as the chatter started up again in full force. She looked over at Rukia, who had the barest hint of a smile on her face. She wished she could snarl something unpleasant at this captain like she could have with Zaraki, but she doubted Ukitake would find it as amusing.

"Come on up, Ayasegawa-san," Ukitake encouraged. Buffy could hear what most people were saying, and most of it was rather unpleasant, all about her supposed exploits in the eleventh division, and only half of them actually true. Yay, damage control, Buffy thought as she pushed off from the wall she had been leaning on and walked to the front of the room. People were whispering to each other behind their hands as if she wasn't standing ten feet away, and it took everything Buffy had to not kick everyone in the head. Man, maybe my reputation is deserved after all, she thought with a mental grimace. When did I get so violent?

She ascended the three stairs that led to the stage and took her position in the middle of the stage. She smiled at the people assembled, and each and every one of them stared at her in abject fear.

"Okay, I know my hair is kind of messy, but I don't think I'm that scary looking!" Buffy joked, smiling a little. No one smiled back, and when Buffy looked at the back of the room when someone coughed, the man who had coughed turned deathly pale when he realized that Buffy was looking at him specifically.

"Anyway, hi," Buffy greeted, somewhat nervous. She was used to addressing large groups of people; she'd sent large groups of the eleventh division into battle numerous times, so why was this any different? Maybe because in the eleventh division, violence was tolerated and respected, Buffy reasoned with herself. Everywhere else, being excessively violent just invokes fear. "My name is Buffy Ayasegawa, and yes, I come from the eleventh division. You can all call me Buffy, or Ayasegawa if you want. I'm not that big on formality. I'm looking forward to working with you and I hope we can all get along. Don't listen to what has been said about me, only half of it is actually true!"

A couple of people laughed nervously at that, which brought Buffy a little bit of hope. Maybe she could convince these people that she wasn't as scary as the rest of the divisions made her out to be.

"If anyone wants to join me, I'm heading out for a drink or two after the meeting," Buffy added with a grin. A couple more people tittered at that and the chatter started again.

"Thank you, Ayasegawa-san," Ukitake said, his smile amused. Must... resist... using the death glare, Buffy thought. It wouldn't do to have the rest of the squad seeing her glare at their captain. She wanted these people to like her. "You know, I might end up joining you and bring Captain Kyoraku with me. He's anxious to get to know you better."

Buffy fought down the blush for what seemed to be the umpteenth time that day. She left the stage, her face feeling as if it were on fire. She wondered if the Captain-Commander's Zanpakuto burned hotter than her face was burning at that moment. Probably not. She reached the back of the room and leaned against the wall again, but this time around there was no possibility of a quiet escape. She could feel the eyes on her, staring, wondering why she had reacted so strangely to the captain's words. She heard a snicker next to her, and looked over to find Rukia trying very hard to fight off the giggles.

"You know, if you keep that up people will start to think the Kuchikis have emotions," Buffy remarked. Rukia's snickering stopped immediately, her face neutral once more. "You coming with me this afternoon?"

"No, I think I'll stay here and train," Rukia replied.

"Okay, suit yourself. Don't say I didn't try," Buffy replied with a shrug. She knew it was pretty much a lost cause, but thought she'd try anyway. Maybe she could bond with the other girl in different ways. "Do you need a sparring partner?"

"I thought you said you were going out today?" Rukia asked, curious.

"I mean later," Buffy replied. "You probably didn't get all of the education you needed. I want to help with that. Can't do much in the way of Kido, but I can help you with your swordsmanship."

"I'd like that, Buffy-dono," Rukia said, and Buffy sighed. She'd convince her to call her Buffy if it's the last thing she did.

"And I call this meeting adjourned!" Ukitake said. Buffy's head snapped up; she'd missed the rest of the meeting! Crap. Some fourth seat she was. Of course, she paid attention to Zaraki's meetings because Ikkaku and Yumichika couldn't be bothered to pay attention unless it was something about fighting. Which it usually was, considering their division, but there were some administrative matters that needed to be taken care of during some meetings and Buffy was the one who paid attention during those times.

She sighed and tried to make her way out without attracting too much attention to herself. Well, at least people aren't talking about me anymore, she thought as she made her way back to her apartment. She opened the door to find it was empty, just as she had left it. She sighed, dreading the unpacking process. I'll do that later, Buffy thought as she dragged the suitcases with clothes in them into her bedroom. She knew exactly what she wanted to wear that afternoon; the question was, would she be able to find it?

Buffy searched her suitcases for what seemed like hours, the result being that the room now looked like a tornado went through it and there was still no sign of the black and red kimono she wanted to wear that night. I didn't forget it, did I? Buffy thought to herself, worried. She'd been rather upset the previous evening for obvious reasons and hadn't been paying close attention to what she had been packing up. She sighed; it obviously wasn't in her new apartment. Where could it be?"

"Yoo hoo! Buffy!"

"In here, Rangiku!" Buffy called back. A moment later Rangiku was standing at the doorway, an amused smirk on her face. She was wearing the said black and red kimono Buffy had been looking for. "Huh, so that's why I couldn't find it. Good to know."

"I knew this couldn't have been mine," Rangiku replied with a grin. "I didn't remember buying it. I must have borrowed it and forgotten to give it back. If you really want to wear it tonight, I can always run home and change."

"No, it's totally okay," Buffy replied. "I'm not worried about it. As long as Yumichika didn't steal it before I left, I'm happy."

"Yumichika steals your clothes?" Rangiku asked, raising an eyebrow. "I know you said he was girly, but I didn't think he'd go that far."

"He steals my makeup," Buffy replied with a shrug. "Well, he used to. Can't anymore, thank God."

"Your brother's strange, you know that?" Rangiku asked. "Do you need any help finding something to wear?"

"Don't I know it, but that's one of the reasons why I love him so much," Buffy replied with a grin. "And I think I have a back up plan. What do you think of the dark blue and pink one you gave me for my birthday last year?"

"Oooh, that one's really pretty," Rangiku replied with a nod and a grin. "I'll go wait for you in the living room. I'm guessing you haven't stocked up on snacks or anything yet?"

"Do you think I've had time?" Buffy retorted as Rangiku left the room. "It's been a busy day. I'll have to go shopping soon, though."

"Might be a good idea," Rangiku called from the living room. "And hey, at least you won't have to deal with Ikkaku coming over to mooch anymore. You still mad at him?"

"A bit," Buffy replied as she got dressed. Having gotten dressed in the same style of clothes for so many years, she had the wrapping and tying down to an art. Within ten minutes she was dressed and she finished off with putting her hair up with a pair of decorative hair sticks. She exited the room, twirling slightly as she did so. "How do I look?"

"Fabulous," Rangiku replied with a grin.

"Hey Rangiku, can I ask you something?" Buffy asked. "And you have to promise to be completely honest."

"When have I ever lied to you?" Rangiku said, arching an eyebrow.

"Good point," Buffy replied. She took a deep breath before continuing. "Am I a scary person?"

"Yes, you're absolutely terrifying," Rangiku deadpanned. When Buffy seemed to droop like a wilted flower, she giggled. "No Buffy, you're not scary. At least, not to the people who know you. Why do you ask?"

"My entire new squad seems terrified of me," Buffy replied, sulking. "Well, except a few people who either don't listen to the gossip or didn't know enough about the squad I came from."

"Well, they all know you came from the Eleventh Squad, right?" Rangiku asked. Buffy nodded glumly. "That might be a bit of a problem, then. Let's face it, most of the eleventh squad is a bunch of bloodthirsty and fight-happy people. Even that kid you guys have as a lieutenant is no slouch on the battlefield. She's damn scary."

"Don't remind me," Buffy replied with a grimace. "There's been tons of times when her and Ikkaku got into it and she released her reiatsu. Any low-level Shinigami in the area got knocked on their asses. I can't imagine how powerful she'd be if she could unlock her Zanpakuto."

"You mean she's not even at her full potential?" Rangiku asked, amazed. Buffy shook her head. "Wow. Anyway, as I was saying, if you made it up to the fourth seat in the eleventh division, you'd have to be tough and let's face it, most people assume that promotions in that squad are done through battle. Since you're a girl, most people assume that you're exceptionally violent and extremely strong."

"How do you know all this?" Buffy asked.

"People talk, I listen," Rangiku replied with a shrug. "Most people think I'm nuts because I'm friends with you, because you must be insanely scary because the eleventh division actually listens to you. I tell them that there are two different Buffys; the scary one that helps lead the eleventh division and beats the crap out of people who don't listen to orders, and the fun Buffy that goes drinking with me and flirts with hot captains."

"You and Ukitake aren't going to let me live that down, are you?" Buffy asked with a groan.

"Captain Ukitake's bothering you about that?" Rangiku asked, surprised.

"You have no idea," Buffy replied. "The man's evil. Made me get up in front of everyone and introduce myself. When I said everyone was welcome to join me for a drink later, he said he might join us and bring Kyoraku with him. He just… hints at stuff that happened, in front of everyone, causing me to blush and everyone else to wonder why I'm reacting like that."

"You know, he might be on to something," Rangiku said, tapping her lip with her finger thoughtfully. "By showing everyone that you blush and get embarrassed like everyone else, he's trying to lessen the fear everyone has of you."

"Or he could have gotten evil in his old age and enjoys torturing hapless victims," Buffy retorted with a snort. "Come on, let's go already. We're getting all depressing and junk and I want to go out and have fun."

"That's the best thing I've heard you say all day," Rangiku replied as they got up from their seats. The sun was beginning to set as they left, setting the sky aglow with many bright colors. Buffy stood to admire the sunset for a moment before Rangiku grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the thirteenth division's area and led her to Seiretei.

On their way to their favourite establishment, Buffy and Rangiku got so caught up in their conversation that they weren't quite paying attention to where they were going or their surroundings, which was why Buffy was surprised when someone knocked into her.

"Hey, watch where you're going, jerk!" she said testily, not seeing who she had bumped into until she looked up. Hazel-green eyes met gold as Buffy took in the pointed hat, painted face and captain's haori with the number twelve emblazoned on the back. She swallowed hard, trying to squash the fear that welled up inside of her.

"I think it's you who need to watch where she's going, Ayasegawa," Mayuri Kurotsuchi said coolly.

"Come on Buffy, let's go," Rangiku said, tugging on Buffy's sleeve. She snapped out of her trance and turned to leave, only to be stopped by Kurotsuchi grabbing her arm in a bruising grip.

"Such a sign of disrespect, Ayasegawa," he said, a cold smile crossing his lips. "You should apologize to me, before I feel the urge to be less… polite with you."

"Let me go, Kurotsuchi," Buffy hissed, glaring at him. She had a lot of unresolved anger against him, and it wouldn't take much from Kurotsuchi to make her explode. "You haven't forgotten what happened to your arm the last time you tried to grab me, did you? Maybe this time I'll actually break it."

"Attacking a captain?" Kurotsuchi asked. "That's deeply stupid, even from one of you ingrates from the eleventh division."

Buffy wretched her arm from his grip and snarled at him, the only thing holding her back was Rangiku's hand on her other arm.

"Come on Buffy," she said, tugging. Buffy growled one last time before turning and leaving Kurotsuchi behind, a dark scowl marring her features.

"Jerk always has to ruin my day," Buffy grumbled. "I don't know why the old man doesn't lock him up and throw away the key. He's clearly unhinged."

"I know Buffy," Rangiku replied soothingly, her eyes narrowing at Kurotsuchi's back. "But he hasn't done anything serious in years, and since he's a captain there's not much we can do about it."

"Don't know how that sadistic bastard became a captain in the first place," Buffy grumbled.

"Let's not think about it now," Rangiku soothed. "Look, we're here. Just forget about that creep and have a good time. Hey, there's Iba! Go say hi and I'll go see if I can get our usual table. Drag him over if you have to."

Before Buffy could say anything, Rangiku skipped off. With a sigh, Buffy snuck up on Iba, leaping up and jumping onto his back when she got close enough. She giggled as he flailed around, trying to dislodge the girl from his back, and it was only when he heard the giggle that he stopped flailing.

"Ya gotta stop doing that to me," he grumbled. "One day I'm gonna throw you off and seriously hurt ya."

"And that will be the day I learn my lesson. Besides, I don't break, I bounce," Buffy replied with a cheeky grin as she hopped down from his back. "Wanna hang out tonight? Rangiku's inside seeing if she can get our usual table."

"Actually, I'm here with someone else," Iba replied, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other, his eyes lowered.

"Ooh, does someone have a date tonight?" Buffy asked. "Want me to get out of your hair? 'Cuz I'm totally cool with that. Don't want to give your date the wrong impression, after all."

"Not a date, per se," Iba replied, keeping his eyes averted. This set Buffy right off; because he always wore sunglasses, he never had an issue with looking someone in the eye. Except for Buffy.

"Who are you meeting, Iba?" Buffy asked, eyes narrowed.

"Madarame and your brother," Iba replied, his eyes still averted.

"Oh, so they're talking to you again?" Buffy asked, curious. They'd both been rather upset when Iba had asked to be transferred to the seventh division, under Sajin Komamura. He hadn't told them why, but Buffy knew that he wanted to move up in the ranks, and the only way he could do that was if he went to a different squad.

"You're not mad at me?" Iba asked, surprised. Both Ayasegawa siblings had rather volatile tempers when provoked, as he had been on the receiving end from both of them several times over the years. Buffy was more likely to act on hers than Yumichika because the self appointed elder sibling thought that anger was an ugly emotion and refused to stooping to expressing it, but that was another matter entirely.

"You're not the one who got me transferred," Buffy replied with a shrug. "And it's not like we had plans and you're ditching me for them or anything like that. We'll hang out later."

"Are you sure you're okay with that?" Iba asked, still sounding unsure.

"Yeah, of course," Buffy replied with a dismissive wave of her hand. "You're friends with them too, and it's not like I'm so evil I'm not going to let you hang out with them. I've grown up from high school, and the academy."

"Well, as long as you're not mad at me," Iba said, still cautious.

"No, I'm not mad at you," Buffy replied, sighing. "I'm gonna get mad at you if you keep acting like you're scared crapless of me, but I'm not mad at you because you want to hang out with the guys."

"Alright, well, I'll see you later," Iba said, finally rising his face so that he could look Buffy in the eye. He grinned at her, and she grinned back before waving at him.

"Gotta go, Rangiku's probably wondering if you've finally dragged me off and had your way with me," Buffy joked with a wink.

"Ikkaku would kill me if I even thought of trying," Iba replied, laughing nervously and blushing. "Not that I wanna try or anything, because you're you, and we tried that and it didn't work."

"Oh come on, I was joking," Buffy said with a teasing smile, patting him on the arm. "You're an awesome friend, but we've been through so much stuff that it would just be so unbelievably weird."

"And does that apply to certain other people, bald people, you've known even longer than me?" Iba asked with a cheeky grin.

"I don't have a clue what you're talking about," Buffy replied quickly, averting her gaze.

"Well, you just keep telling yourself that and maybe one day you'll end up believing it," Iba said with a laugh. "I'll let you go now. Rangiku's probably getting worried."

"Oh shush you," Buffy replied, smacking him on the shoulder before turning to leave. She entered the sake house, keeping an eye out for Rangiku. It wasn't difficult to find her; she was at their usual table, surrounded by a few choice males, two of which included Captains Kyoraku and Ukitake. Buffy was about to turn around and run away when Rangiku spotted her.

"Buffy, over here!" she said, waving. Buffy sighed and made her way over to the table, sitting down next to Rangiku.

"My, my, Buffy-chan, don't you look pretty tonight," Kyoraku said with a wink. "Shirou and I are so lucky to be in the company of two of the loveliest ladies in the Gotei 13."

Rangiku blushed and giggled and Buffy rolled her eyes, her lips quirking up slightly in the barest smiles. Kyoraku sure was a charmer, chasing skirts for who knew how long. Her gaze fell on the door, and she couldn't tear it away when she saw who was entering. Ikkaku and Yumichika entered, with Iba on tow. Buffy narrowed her eyes at the two she was angry at, her attention fully on Ikkaku and Yumichika.

"It looks like Ayasegawa-san's attention is elsewhere," Ukitake remarked.

"Buffy," Rangiku said, poking Buffy in the ribs. Buffy jumped, surprised, before glaring at her friend.

"What did you do that for?" Buffy asked.

"We've got two really nice men right here," Rangiku said slowly, as if speaking to a particularly slow child. "You shouldn't be wasting your energies on people who you're angry at. Come on, have a drink!"

"Fine," Buffy said with a good-natured sigh, taking the glass Rangiku handed her. After that, she began to loosen up a bit, although she did keep shooting glances over at a table across the room containing three of her former division mates.

Ukitake watched Buffy covertly for the rest of the evening, hoping that she wouldn't notice. He knew the situation surrounding her transfer, including the two people who had instigated it; Zaraki had apprised him of the entire state of affairs, especially because of Buffy's supposed temper. He was told what to look for when Buffy got particularly angry or upset, or when she was lying about something. It amazed Ukitake, seeing Zaraki care about someone so much; the only other person he'd seen the violent captain treat with any kind of care was his lieutenant, Yachiru.

"Shirou-chan, where are you?" Kyoraku's voice broke him out of his thoughts. "What are you thinking about that made your face so serious?"

"Nothing that can't be dealt with later," Ukitake replied with a slight smile. He raised his glass. "I would like to propose a toast. To Ayasegawa-san and her new life in the thirteenth division! Here's to many long years of working together and, I hope, friendship. To Ayasegawa-san!"

"To Buffy!"

"To Buffy-chan!"

Seeing Buffy's grateful but slightly sad smile made Ukitake's mind up for him. He wanted to help Buffy, and he knew exactly how he was going to do it.

He just hoped she wouldn't be _too_ angry with him.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The next morning Buffy sat on her couch, a copy of the Seiretei newsletter open in her lap and a cup of tea in her hand. It was her first day of official duty in the thirteenth squad, and she wasn't really looking forward to going to breakfast at the squad mess hall. She supposed it would be infinitely more civilized than the eleventh division, but she still didn't want to go to breakfast with her new squad. Doing so would make the transfer finally seem real. It wasn't a reality that Buffy wanted to face just yet.

She was surprised when, a moment later, a knock sounded on her door. Sighing, she got up and went to answer it, wondering who would be coming to see her so early in the morning. She hoped it was Rukia wanting to spar; it would put off having to eat with the rest of the squad just a little bit longer.

"Good morning, Ayasegawa-san," Shogo Ishimaru greeted. Buffy sighed.

"I told you, I'm fine with you calling me Buffy," Buffy said. "What can I do for you?"

"Captain Ukitake has requested a meeting with you and has asked me to take you to his office," Ishimaru replied. "If you would come with me, please."

Buffy wondered what he captain would want with her this early in the morning. She followed Ishimaru to the captain's office. She could tell Ishimaru was tense, worried about something.

"You know, I'm not that scary," Buffy said out of the blue, causing Ishimaru to jump.

"I'm not afraid of you, Buffy-san," Ishimaru replied quickly, his eyes averted.

"It's okay if you are," Buffy replied with a shrug. "I'm used to it. I'm just saying, I'm not the scary one. Yeah, I can fight, and that's mostly how and why I got so high up in the eleventh squad. But really, I'm not anywhere near as violent as some of the others in that squad. And between you and me, none of them scare me anywhere near as much as Captain Kurotsuchi does."

"You've met Captain Kurotsuchi?" Ishimaru asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Unfortunately," Buffy replied with a grimace. "I would have been very, very happy if I never, ever met him, but I actually met him on my second day in Seiretei, just after I got my entrance exam results."

"Was he normal back then?" Ishimaru asked.

"Oh, hell no," Buffy replied with a vehement shake of her head. "He was just as, if not more, creepy as he is now. At least now he tries, albeit badly, to hide his desire to experiment on every weird thing that crosses his path."

"Weird," Ishimaru said.

"So, do you like the thirteenth division?" Buffy asked.

"I do," Ishimaru replied. He had relaxed somewhat, but he was still a little tense. "Captain Ukitake really cares about his division and Miyako-san and Kaien-san are very helpful. What was the eleventh division like?"

"That's good to hear," Buffy said. "And the eleventh division was the eleventh division. It was weird, having so many big, violent men listening to my instructions on hollow hunting missions, but they respected me. Well, most of them did. There were a couple who had a problem with me. Obviously that respect led to fear in the other divisions, but I doubt that many of the rumours are true. What are the rumours, anyway?"

Ishimaru looked at her, his eyes wide in surprise at the question. He gulped and stammered for a bit, trying to search for words that would not anger the woman walking next to him.

"Okay, I think I get the picture," Buffy replied with a sigh. It looked like she was going to have to do a lot of damage control with regards to whatever reputation she had. Considering she spent all of her time with either eleventh squad people, former eleventh squad people or Rangiku, it was difficult for her to gauge how other people thought of her.

"No, it's nothing like that, Buffy-san," Ishimaru said, which caused Buffy to snort. "It's not! I just don't want you angered with me."

"And what have you heard will happen if I get angry with someone?" Buffy prompted, arching an eyebrow.

"That you'll basically beat the crap out of whoever makes you angry, no swords allowed," Ishimaru replied sheepishly.

"While that wouldn't be difficult with most people, it isn't something I normally do with random people," Buffy replied with a roll of her eyes. "I find that dwelling on anger is rather pointless, and there are only a few people who can really set me off. When they do, yeah, I smack them around a bit, but they can handle it and they give as good as they get. But no, I don't randomly get violent with people I'm not familiar with."

"Good to know," Ishimaru said, still tense but nowhere near as bad as he had been when he had picked her up.

They continued to walk in silence until they reached the Captain's office. Ishimaru bowed and left Buffy there, allowing her to knock on the door on her own. She did so and waited, wondering what her captain wanted with her this early in the morning.

"Ah, Ayasegawa-san! Come in, come in!" Ukitake greeted with a smile. "I trust Ishimaru-san didn't wake you up? I told him to leave and come back if you weren't awake yet."

"No, I'd been awake for a while," Buffy replied as she entered. Ukitake gestured for her to sit down on one of the chairs that was positioned in front of his desk. She took a moment to take in her surroundings; it was different than Zaraki's office. More personalized; there were pictures on the walls, both of people and different nature scenes. Zaraki's office had been stark, bare and Spartan, devoid of any personal touches. "What did you want to see me about?"

"How do you feel about the division so far?" Ukitake asked. "And please, be honest. I'd like to help you settle in as much as possible, and I can only do that if you're completely honest with me."

"Well, it's different," Buffy replied, careful to temper her words. "I'm not used to people cowering in fear around me, or talking about me as if I'm not there. I knew it was going to be hard, what with whatever reputation I have around here. Which, by the way, apparently isn't so great. I had no idea people thought I got randomly violent."

"Well, I'm sure it's understandable, considering where you came from," Ukitake replied. "But I know it's not true, because if it were, you probably would have gotten violent with that brother of yours last night."

"You noticed that, huh?" Buffy asked. Ukitake nodded solemnly. "Sorry about that. I'll do my best to keep my hostilities down to a minimum next time."

"You're angry with them, and understandably so," Ukitake said. "And I want to help you get over that anger. How would you like to go on an extended solo mission into the real world?"

"Is everyone so scared of me that you wanna get rid of me already?" Buffy joked with a cheeky grin, before realizing who she was talking to. "I'm so sorry… I sometimes forget that most captains aren't like Captain Zaraki."

"It's all right, I'm glad you can have such a light attitude towards it," Ukitake replied with a laugh. "I think that some time away from Soul Society and away from the people you feel have hurt you will be good for you. Do you disagree?"

Buffy thought for a moment, before shaking her head. She rarely went to the human world anymore; most hollow hunting missions were dealt with by the lower ranked squad members, and it was only when a particularly troublesome infestation occurred that she, Ikkaku and Yumichika would be called in. She couldn't even remember the last time she had been to the human world, and the fact that she was going to be sent there on an extended mission appealed to her. Not only would she be able to fight and take her aggressions out on things that she could kill, she wouldn't have to see Yumichika and Ikkaku on a regular basis for a while.

"I thought it might appeal to you," Ukitake said, pleased that his plan had been received so well, even if Buffy wasn't smiling happily at him as he had hoped. "There is a town in California that seems to be experiencing a more frequent level of hollow attacks than most. I would like you to go there and investigate the occurrences and report back to us with your findings."

"Do I have to deal with Kurotsuchi?" Buffy asked, before quickly correcting herself. "I mean, Captain Kurotsuchi."

"If you would prefer to submit your reports to me, I would be happy to pass them along to Kurotsuchi-san," Ukitake replied before lowering his voice considerably. "He does put most people off, doesn't he?"

"You're telling me," Buffy replied, wondering if Ukitake remembered what Kurotsuchi had done to her. Probably not; captains didn't usually bother themselves with the affairs of the students, even if the said student had been kidnapped by a member of the Gotei 13, spirited off to a secret lab and had been in the middle of being experimented on before the cavalry came barging in.

"Ah, that's right, you have a special reason to be extremely cautious around Kurotsuchi-san," Ukitake said knowingly.

"Yeah, something like that," Buffy replied. She wasn't sure who she was more angry with; Kurotsuchi, who had tried to experiment on her in the first place, or Kisuke Urahara, who had let him out to wreak havoc on Seiretei with his experiments again.

"Well, you won't have to deal with him if you don't want to," Ukitake said.

"Thank you," Buffy replied. Ukitake smiled when she seemed to deflate in relief. "So, when do I leave?"

"Anxious to get out of here I take it?" Ukitake asked.

"I-I didn't mean it that way," Buffy replied, flustered.

"I was only teasing you, Ayasegawa-san. You should learn to loosen up a little," Ukitake said with a laugh. "You can leave as soon as you're ready. But first, breakfast! I'm sure you're hungry by now."

"No," Buffy replied, just as her stomach gave a loud gurgle. Ukitake laughed and Buffy blushed. "Okay, maybe I'm a little hungry."

"Then I'll show you to where the mess hall is," Ukitake said as he rose from his seat. Buffy followed, and together they headed out of the captain's office and to the mess hall.

"I noticed that you are familiar with Captain Kuchiki," Ukitake commented as they walked. "I sense a story behind that, although if it's too painful for you to relive, I understand. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"We've known each other for years," Buffy replied with a shrug. "We were friends, once upon a time. We were really close when we were in the academy together, up until the incident with my brother and Madarame. Byakuya gave me a choice – either dump them or he walks. I chose to stick with my family, and we haven't been friends since. And, you know, there's the whole, he's royalty and a captain and I'm from the slums and a fourth seat."

"You're powerful enough to have a higher seat," Ukitake said. Buffy instantly shook her head. "Don't sell yourself short; from what I've heard, you have a great amount of potential and power. You just need to be trained up and guided a bit."

"Hmph," Buffy said, but she knew Ukitake was right. She was quite powerful, having learned her shikai about five years out of the academy, taking another five years to master it completely. She hadn't yet tried to attempt bankai like her brother and Ikkaku had, but it was only a matter of time before the pull of learning the full extent of her powers would lure her in.

"Why don't you go and sit with Kuchiki-san?" Ukitake said as they reached the mess hall and his gaze fell on the back corner. "She looks lonely and it seemed like you two were getting along yesterday."

"Thank you for the suggestion, Captain Ukitake," Buffy said with a nod. "Should I report to your office after breakfast to get full instructions for my mission?"

"There's no rush," Ukitake said with a wave of his had. "Go, get to know little Kuchiki-san a little better. She could probably use a friend. Oh, and just to let you know, the training area on the grounds has a special protective kido placed on it. While duelling in that area, all wounds dealt will be non-fatal, even if they would have been fatal in a real battle."

"Alright, thanks for the information. I'll see you this afternoon then," Buffy said with a nod before marching to where Rukia was sitting, a short distance away from the rest of their division mates were sitting. Buffy plopped down across from Rukia, startling her from her breakfast. "Do you mind if I sit here?"

"No, Buffy-dono," Rukia replied.

"Good, because I wasn't going to move anyway. And it's just Buffy," Buffy reminded her. "How are you today?"

"I'm well," Rukia replied. "How are you?"

"I've been worse," Buffy replied with a shrug. "Do you have any plans after breakfast?"

"No," Rukia replied. "Why?"

"I was hoping we could get some sparring in before I leave," Buffy replied with a shrug. "But if you don't want to, that's okay. I can sit in my apartment and stare at the wall until it's time for me to go."

"Where are you going, Buffy-dono?" Rukia asked, curious. "If you don't mind me asking."

"It's Buffy," Buffy reminded her automatically. "And I'm headed out to the human world for an extended mission. There's a town in California that's getting way too many hollows and the head guys here want me to help figure out why."

"Do you know how long you'll be gone?" Rukia asked.

"I don't know," Buffy replied. "Most long term missions into the real world last a month in real-world time at most. So, do you wanna spar this morning or not?"

"Do you really want to help me?" Rukia asked.

"Well, yeah," Buffy replied. "What, do you think I'm going to beat on you for no real reason?"

Rukia averted her gaze; that was Buffy's answer right there. She sighed and rolled her eyes. At least she got to this one before the opinion fully set in; maybe she and Rukia could still be friends.

"Okay, what did they tell you?" Buffy asked.

"That you used to beat up lower seated Shinigami because you could," Rukia replied.

"And I'm going to tell you that I'm not unnecessarily violent," Buffy said with another sigh. "I don't beat on people unless they really piss me off, and there are only two people who can work me up like that, and usually I've got my two best friends around to calm me down so I don't even smack them around that much anyway. I take my aggressions out on hollows that decide attack Soul Society. I want to help you, and I think I can help you, if you let me."

"Fine, we can spar later this morning," Rukia said, smiling slightly.

"Good," Buffy replied with a bright grin. "I'm so gonna tease Byakuya if you're better than he was."

"I don't think I will be," Rukia replied. "Nii-sama is very talented."

"He is now, but he wasn't then," Buffy replied with a shake of her head. Buffy blushed when her stomach rumbled again.

"Are you hungry, Buffy-dono?" Rukia asked, a slight teasing note in her voice.

"Yep," Buffy replied, grabbing a bun from the tray on the table and taking a bite. They weren't as good as her brother's, but they'd have to do for now. Considering how she wasn't talking to him, they might have to do for a while.

"Is that all you're going to eat, Buffy-dono?" Rukia asked.

"It's all I need," Buffy replied, not bothering to correct her this time around. "Are you finished?" Rukia nodded. "Then let's get out of here. I want to see what you can do."

They got up and left, watched by several of their division mates, including their captain, who had a small, pleased smile on his face.

"Something amusing you, captain?" Kaien asked.

"Something like that," Ukitake replied as he watched his two newest recruits leave the mess hall.

The walk to the training ground was a quiet one. The morning was cool and the sunshine weak, but that would change by midday; it looked like it was going to be a fine early spring day. Before long, they reached the open training area on the grounds of the thirteenth division.

"Okay, I want to test your offence today," Buffy instructed once they were in position. "I want you to attack me. If you find an opening, use it. Fatal wounds don't happen in this space, so give me all you've got. Try to hit me, if you can."

Rukia withdrew her Zanpakuto and slipped into a battle stance before attacking Buffy head-on. The older Shinigami blocked it easily, not even withdrawing her own Zanpakuto until the very last minute. Rukia withdrew, slightly, surprised.

"Again," Buffy instructed. "Try not to hit me head on, and use flash steps if you can."

The remainder of the morning went on like this; Rukia attacked Buffy from every conceivable angle, and Buffy was able to block most of them, although Rukia got a few hits in. Blood dripped down one of her arms, and there was a gash on her forehead. Buffy only did the barest of retaliation, so Rukia had come out of the experience mostly unscathed.

"Excellent work, Kuchiki-san!"

Both Buffy and Rukia turned, surprised to see Ukitake and Kaien standing a short distance away, watching them. Once they were sure the sparring session was over, both men came closer to speak to their division mates.

"Ayasegawa-san, you're hurt!" Ukitake said, surveying the injuries from a slight distance. "Do you require treatment at the fourth division? I could get Captain Unohana to look you over personally."

"Nope, I'm peachy with a side of keen," Buffy replied, silently hoping that she wouldn't be sent to the fourth division. Captain Unohana scared her. "Barely a scratch, I'll be fine."

"Are you ready to leave for the human world?" Ukitake asked. "If you would prefer, I could get someone else to go to the human world so you can continue training Kuchiki-san?"

"No, going to the human world would definitely be better," Buffy replied.

"I can take over your training with Kuchiki," Kaien suggested. "I'll get her up to speed so that you'll have to go on an active defence when you spar with her when you get back! I mean, if that's all right with Kuchiki."

"I'd like that, Kaien-dono," Rukia replied with a slight smile.

"Thank you, Kaien-san," Buffy said gratefully with a smile.

"Excellent, it's all settled!" Ukitake said with a clap of his hands.

"Great," Buffy said with a grin. "Just let me run and bandage myself up and then I'll be ready to go."

"I'll meet you on the grounds of the Senkaimon Gate in half an hour?" Ukitake suggested.

"Sounds fair to me," Buffy replied. "See you then."

The quartet dispersed, Buffy heading to her rooms and the other three going off on their own. Once she reached her destination, Buffy grabbed one of the suitcases that didn't have clothes in it. Opening it on the sofa, she rummaged around until she found her first aid kit. Because she disliked visiting the fourth division so much, Buffy had made it a habit to stock up on her own medical supplies like bandages and antiseptic, preferring to treat her wounds and heal the old fashioned way. It worked for her, and with her accelerated healing most injuries were very, very minor.

After wrapping her arm and placing a bandage on the cut on her forehead, she sighed and surveyed her apartment. It was still stark and had the barely lived-in feel of a hotel room; the only indication in the entire apartment that someone lived there was the bedroom, and that was only because Buffy went on a frantic search for the kimono she wanted to wear the previous night.

"Oh well," Buffy said with a sigh. "I'll have plenty of time to tidy up when I get back."

Since Shinigami rarely died when they went on away missions, Buffy was confident that she would return reasonably unscathed in the timeline she had given Rukia.

Making one last visual sweep of her rooms to make sure there wasn't anything she wanted to take with her, Buffy patted the Zanpakuto on her hip to make sure it was there before turning and leaving, closing the door behind her. She left the thirteenth division's grounds, undisturbed by the rest of her squad mates. Lost in her thoughts, Buffy wasn't quite paying attention to where she was going so when she bumped into someone it took her by surprise. She breathed deeply as she looked up, unable to mistake that particular scent with anyone else, but she had to look to make sure. Brown eyes locked on green as Ikkaku's eyes widened, startled.

"Buffy!" he exclaimed, surprised. "What are you doing out here? Got a day off already?"

"Out of my way, Madarame, I'm running late," Buffy said, narrowing her eyes. Ikkaku took a step back, alarmed. She never called him by his last name – never. It was always Ikkaku or one of those stupid nicknames she had come up with, but never Madarame, not even when they were in the middle of a screaming match or trying to strangle each other. That hadn't happened in a while, but it was always a possibility with them.

"Where are you headed?" he asked, shaking off his surprise. "I'll walk you there."

"What, so you think I need a guard dog too?" Buffy asked, arching an eyebrow. "If you must know, I'm headed to the Senkaimon Gate grounds. Got assigned an extended mission to the human world this morning. You going to try and put a stop to that as well, because you consider it dangerous?"

Ikkaku sighed, defeated. He didn't want to be saying these words, not so soon, but he was aware of the fact that this could be the last chance he could say them.

"Look, Buffy, I'm sorry," he said carefully, in a rare moment of complete seriousness. "I'm sorry we did this to you, and I hope you understand why some day. Yumichika loves you, and I've grown kinda fond of you over the years, and we wanna keep you around for a while longer. That wasn't gonna happen if you stuck around in the eleventh division."

"Duly noted," Buffy said, her voice neutral. "I have to go, Captain Ukitake's probably wondering what's taking me so long, because all I had to do was wrap a couple of injuries."

"What happened?" Ikkaku asked, concerned, his eyes flicking to the bandage on her forehead.

"Not that you have any right to ensure or enquire about my safety or well-being anymore, but I was injured in a one-on-one sparring match that was mutually consented to by both parties," Buffy replied primly. "Besides the fact that my ego got a little bruised and got a couple of flesh wounds, I'm fine. Oh, and I get to rub it in Byakuya's face that his kid sister got more hits on me than he did on our first sparring match."

"Excuse me, but I think I have every right to be concerned about you," Ikkaku said, his annoyance growing. "I'm your friend. Friends are supposed to care about each other, aren't they?"

"We've never been friends, Ikkaku. Not really. You should know that by now," Buffy replied quietly. Ikkaku stared at her, incredulous, although a pleased smirk briefly flashed on his face. She was calling him Ikkaku again, at least. "It's always been more than friendship, even from that first day. Don't tell me you thought we were just friends."

"I…" Ikkaku began, before he snapped his mouth shut. They stood there awkwardly for a few moments, both Shinigami trying to work through the meaning of the words that had been exchanged.

"Captain Kuchiki has a sister?" Ikkaku asked after too many moments of silence.

"Random change of subject there, and so totally not the point of this conversation," Buffy said with a roll of her eyes. "Anyway, I really gotta go before Ukitake sends out a search party or something."

"All right, then," Ikkaku said, his voice holding a note of defeat. "Just… be careful, okay? There are a lot of people here who want you back in one piece."

"I'm always careful," Buffy retorted, turning to leave. Ikkaku grabbed her arm.

"I mean it, Buffy," he said seriously. "Promise me you won't do anything stupid."

"All right, all right, I promise," Buffy replied exasperatedly. "Now, will you let me go? Jeez, first you can't wait to get rid of me, and now you don't want me to leave. Make up your mind already!"

She wrenched her arm from his grasp before turning and stalking off towards where the Senkaimon Gate was. Ikkaku caught up to her quickly, grabbing her arm again to turn her around to face him. His eyes searched hers before he wrapped his arms around her in a quick hug. Before Buffy could comprehend what was going on or even return the rare sign of affection, Ikkaku released her and stalked off without another word.

Shocked, Buffy turned and ran to her destination, not stopping until she was nearly there. When she finally reached the grounds, she was slightly flushed and breathing hard due to exertion, but she had calmed down considerably. It was amazing what a walk, or a run in her case, could do to her mood.

"Ayasegawa-san, is everything all right?" Ukitake asked, worried when he saw his new fourth seat's expression.

"Peachy with a side of keen," Buffy replied. She looked to see Mayuri Kurotsuchi standing with them. She couldn't keep her eyes from narrowing in suspicion. "What's he doing here?"

"We have never sent a Shinigami to this particular area of the world, so I would like to personally monitor your passage through the gate," Kurotsuchi said. He produced a syringe from his captain's haori and came at Buffy with it.

"What's in that?" Buffy asked, warily taking a step back.

"It's just some microbes I'll be using to monitor you with," Kurotsuchi replied mildly. "Completely harmless, I promise you."

"I remember the last time you promised me something would be harmless," Buffy said, still eyeing the syringe warily.

"If it has any adverse effects on you, Ayasegawa-san, I will personally make sure Kurotsuchi-san doesn't get away with it," Ukitake said solemnly.

"I'll hold you to that," Buffy replied, just as seriously before rolling up her sleeve. "Okay, let's get this over with."

"I find your absence of confidence troubling," Kurotsuchi said with a sigh as he plunged the needle into Buffy's arm before depressing the plunger, causing Buffy to gasp in pain. She glared at him, causing him to put his hands up in a gesture of mock surrender. "I said they were harmless, not painless. There's a difference, Ayasegawa."

"So, where are you sending me?" Buffy asked.

"We don't have a direct name, only that it's a convergence of darkness," Ukitake replied. "There have been many hollow attacks in recent weeks and we want to investigate."

"Alrighty, so you're sending me to a nameless mystical convergence in the middle of California," Buffy clarified. It sounded awfully a lot like a Hellmouth, something she had hoped had been left behind with her human life so long ago. Both men nodded in assent at her description. "Sounds like a barrel of totally not fun. Let's get this show on the road."

A member of the Kido Corps stepped forward and said the incantation for opening the Senkaimon Gate. A Hell Butterfly flew by and perched itself on Buffy's shoulder to act as her guide through the Senkaimon so that she wouldn't have to go through the Severed World.

"Good luck, Ayasegawa-san," Ukitake said kindly as the doors opened. She thought she heard Kurotsuchi mutter 'you'll need it', but she wasn't sure because Ukitake had guided her to the doors. "Happy hunting."

Buffy walked through the gate, but as soon as the doors closed she knew something was wrong. Instead of the waiting room that should have been there, Buffy got pulled into a dark void. Faster and faster she fell into the bottomless pit, not knowing when or how her descent was going to be stopped.

After what seemed like hours of falling, Buffy was slammed into something, losing consciousness for a moment. When she awoke again, she quickly assessed the situation. Dark, cramped space. Stale, rapidly decreasing air. Itching all over, both due to the fact that she was wearing some rough material on her body and the familiar itch that always seemed to happen to her when she was forced to use a gigai. But this didn't feel like the standard "gigai itch" as she had dubbed it. No, there was something completely familiar with this body. When she finally put the pieces together, her eyes widened before she snarled under her breath.

"Mayuri Kurotsuchi, you are so totally _dead!_" she shrieked.


	6. Chapter 6

**Note:** This chapter borrows heavily from the Season Six Episode "Bargaining, Part 2". A lot of dialogue is borrowed from that episode, and if it seems like this chapter is a nearly 6,000 word summary of that episode, I'm sorry.

Chapter 6

Knowing that she had to get out of the coffin as soon as possible, Buffy began pulling the coffin lining. Slowly but surely she began clawing at the lid of her coffin, desperate to get out. Her determination alone got her to the ceiling of dirt that waited for her once she got through the wood. Panicking, she began clawing at the dirt, digging her way out of the grave. After what seemed like hours, her hand burst through the surface, giving her the much needed encouragement to pull herself out of the hole.

It was night time in Sunnydale and everything seemed dimmed from what she remembered. Mind you, it had been fifty-five years since she'd been there, so there had to have been some changes. She wondered how her friends were doing, if they'd moved off the hellmouth or had died fighting the hoards of demons and vampires that had seemed to congregate in Sunnydale when she was alive.

Her gaze fell on her tombstone, squinting to make out the words. "Buffy Summers, 1981-2001. Beloved Sister. Devoted Friend. She saved the world. A Lot." _Fitting_, Buffy thought. _Crap, is my eyesight going? _ She squinted again, everything hazy. On wobbly legs she began walking away from her grave site, blinking and squinting as she did so. Her eyesight was beginning to clear, but it was still hazy.

Buffy could hear the chaos and anarchy all around her; it was different from when she had been in Sunnydale last. She wondered if another Slayer had been stationed on the hellmouth, and immediately dismissed the idea. No respectable Slayer would have let the town fall into anarchy like this.

She reached a residential street near the cemetery, only to find it was deserted. Well, at least people have finally learned to keep off the streets at night, Buffy thought. However, there was something strange. Car-shaped blurs were parked on either side of the street, most of them on fire. _Definitely not the Sunnydale I remember_, Buffy thought as a motorcycle roared by. The noise made her jump, but it was the feeling that washed over her that lingered. Demon.

Backing away, she continued walking, her gait still stiff and wobbly. She was used to her spirit body, not her real body, and she was certain that she wouldn't have the same powers in human form than she would in Shinigami form. Could she use her Shinigami powers? She didn't know. She quickly checked her person, patting herself down to see if anything was hidden there. No Soul Candy containers. Damn. Hopefully she could get some supplies at the local supplier, even though she wasn't sure if Sunnydale had a Shinigami supplier. She wracked her brain, trying to remember if she had seen anything remotely Shinigami-like from before, when she was still alive. Nothing, but then again she hadn't known to look for it then.

Feeling weary, Buffy stopped to rest, leaning against a car in someone's driveway, only to be startled when the alarm went off suddenly. The alarm was loud and blaring, to the point where it caused her pain. Loud noises weren't normal in Seiretei, and she had grown unused to loud noises. She saw the lights go on in the house and someone come out onto the porch. He was holding some kind of weapon… a gun? She couldn't tell from this distance. Stupid damn blurred vision.

"What are you doing?"

_Okay, definitely a man_, Buffy thought, squinting at him. She hadn't taken her hands off of her ears yet; the sound was still far too loud.

She couldn't hear him too well through her hands or over the sound of the alarm, but she could tell that he was still yelling at her. She squinted at him, trying to make out a more definite shape before she heard the unmistakable sound of a shot ringing through the air. Getting the message, Buffy ran off on unsteady feet, not sure where she was going or what she was going to do. She was effectively stranded in the middle of the human world, with no way of contacting anyone in Seiretei and no way of accessing her Shinigami powers. If she knew Kurotsuchi's methods well enough – and she was pretty sure she did, after being one of his main targets for so many years – she was certain that he had made sure that the only person who knew exactly where she was located was Kurotsuchi himself; no one else could be trusted with this information.

_Kurotsuchi is so freaking deader than dead when I get my hands on him_, Buffy thought viciously as she ran, still squinting because her vision was still shot. _I don't freaking care if he's a captain or not, he's so going to pay for everything he's done to me. That is, if I get to him first. It'll be amusing to see Ikkaku or Yumichika rip him to shreds._

She shook her head; there was no Ikkaku or Yumichika to save her now, not that she really needed saving to begin with. She hadn't gotten to the fourth seat of the eleventh division with their help and she could manage without it now, although it would be nice to have someone she trusted completely and absolutely watching her back.

Slowing her run back down to a walk due to her body's protests, she continued on her way, limping slightly. She already missed her Shinigami body. Hell, she would have taken an itchy gigai if it meant she could run and jump and frolic and not feel like someone whose muscles had been ravaged by coma or death.

Ahead, she saw more fires and a group of loud revellers assembled in a parking lot. She wasn't quite sure how far she had travelled, but she must have been nearly in the commercial district of Sunnydale if she was nearing a parking lot. As she drew closer, she could hear what was being said, but her eyesight was still blurred. When she got close enough, an overwhelming feeling hit her like a wall.

Demons.

It was a rally of some sort, and as Buffy drew closer she could catch more of the exclamations being spewed by the apparent leader. They were planning on settling down in Sunnydale. _Definitely no Slayer here_, Buffy thought as she got closer to the group. It was odd that no one noticed her, but it made it easier for her to get into the crowd and see what was going on. Her vision was still slightly blurry and fine details were lost on her, but she could make different shapes out and, if looking at people at close range, could probably tell the difference between them.

A few demons were attaching chains to their motorcycles. Buffy watched, transfixed, as they did so, still unnoticed by the majority of the group. They were attaching chains to a figure in the middle of the crowd; Buffy couldn't get a clear angle to see exactly what was going on, but she had a feeling it was something bad. She shook her head, trying to clear the cobwebs from her mind. She opened her eyes, her eyesight finally clearing enough for her to see what was going on. The crowd separated enough so that Buffy could see who was being tied up to the bikes.

She was staring into her own face, marred by circuitry on one side.

Her eyes widened in shock as she stared into her own face, her own body being lashed to four motorcycles. She knew, instinctively, that it wasn't actually her being tied to the bikes, but it was a sight she didn't want to see. It was disconcerting. The replica's eyes found Buffy's, surprise crossing its face as it did so.

"Bye bye, Slayer!"

Buffy could see her doppelganger mouthing something, but unable to read lips she didn't know what was being said. The demons revved the engines of their motorcycles before driving off, tearing the doppelganger into pieces.

"No!" Buffy screamed, watching in horror as the replica's torso went flying. The demons around her turned and looked at her, moving so that everyone else could get a view of her.

"Another one for the fire, boys!"

Alarm bells were going off in Buffy's head as she backed up a couple of paces.

"Tear it up."

The alarms still ringing in her head, Buffy turned and ran, despite the protests of her ravaged body. She knew that she couldn't fight, not now, and the only way she could survive was to run away. _Some eleventh division officer I am_, Buffy thought, berating herself. The eleventh division was known to stand and fight to the death, no matter what the odds and here Buffy was running away like a scared little girl. Shaking herself, she continued to run, remembering Ikkaku's words to her before she left. He and Yumichika wanted her back in one piece, and she was damn determined to come back in one entire piece. Besides, she still had to kick Kurotsuchi's ass for putting her in this situation in the first place.

A motorcycle roared past her, turning sharply so that it obstructed her path and forced her to stop running. Turning, she sees another demon coming at her, chain swinging over his head. She ducked low in a crouch as the demon swung the chain at her head, causing him to hit the other demon instead. She thought she heard the chain wielding demon apologize, but she was back on her feet and running, sprinting away from the scene. If she could, she would have used flash steps to get away, but this body wouldn't allow her to use her finely honed Shinigami powers.

Buffy careened around a corner, coming to a pile of garbage and a high chain link fence. Another burst of speed and a flying leap later, Buffy had made it almost to the top of the fence, only having to climb a couple of feet until she was completely over the fence. She jumped down, landing gracefully on her feet. Unfortunately, she wasn't alone, as a group of people were standing on the other side of the chain link fence.

"Watch it!"

Buffy looks up, surveying the group through her hair. She knows that voice. It didn't matter how many years she had been gone, that voice, as well as the others would never leave her head. She still dreamed of them from time to time, never ever forgotten by her. But… it was impossible. Xander shouldn't sound the same as he did when she left; fifty some-odd years should have aged his voice considerably.

"It… it's the BuffyBot." Anya.

"Ah, peachy. No doubt to lead the wild bunch right to us again. Hey Will, next time this thing's damaged, couldn't ya program it to find the nearest Radio Shack, or..."

Xander was speaking, but Buffy wasn't paying attention to his words. She was looking at the redhead of the group. Willow. Her eyes were dark, haunted, and she looked completely wiped out.

"Buffy?" she asked, as if unsure of what she was seeing.

_No, no this isn't possible_, Buffy thought. There was no way that they could still be so young, looking almost like they did when she had died. How could they have done it? What kind of magic had Willow worked? Or worse, had they been made into vampires? She stared at them, fearfully, before running, ignoring them as they called her name.

She continued to run turning corners and hoping that she lost them until she reached a complete dead end. Not wanting to risk the chance of her friends seeing her, Buffy hid, curling up into a corner behind a pile of garbage and other junk that had been discarded in the alley. She made herself as small as possible, hoping that they wouldn't find her. She didn't have the strength to fight at the moment.

There were sounds at the mouth of the alley; people were walking towards her. She could hear the footsteps, the voices.

"Where is she?" Buffy heard Anya say as the footsteps came closer. Buffy hid further, all the while berating herself even more. _Eleventh division my ass_, Buffy thought. _The way I'm acting, I might as well be one of those low-level wimps in the fourth division_.

"Buffy?" Willow. She could see the redhead through the curtain of hair in front of her face. "Buffy, are you… It's Willow. Can you hear me?"

Buffy looked around, nervous. She couldn't sense any vampire vibes, but that didn't mean squat. Giles had always said her sixth vampire sense wasn't as good as it could be.

"What's wrong with her?" Anya whispered.

"Nothing! She – she's in shock," Willow replied.

"Her hands are bleeding. Her fingers," Tara pointed out. Buffy looked at her own hands and, indeed, they were bleeding. Huh.

"Oh, she's filthy," Anya said. Xander shook his head in dismay.

"Oh no," he said quietly.

"What?" Willow asked, concerned.

"No," Xander muttered, shaking his head. "How could we ... so stupid!"

"Xander!" Willow exclaimed, concerned.

"Our spell. Our resurrection spell worked like a magic charm. We brought you back to life, Buffy," Xander said quietly. He looked at Willow. "Right where we left her."

Willow and Tara look shocked. "Oh god," Willow whispered.

"In her coffin," Xander quietly confirmed.

Willow turned to Tara, her face full of anguish. Tara could only think of one thing to do, so she hugged her.

"She had to ... dig out of her own grave," Tara said quietly, voicing the realization that everyone would have come to eventually.

Buffy continued to crouch, still in fear. There were too many of them; she knew she wouldn't have been able to run past them. She could see the Xander-shaped blur was carrying an axe. Not good. Xander kneeled so that he was at Buffy's level.

"Buffy," he said, his voice quiet and kind. "Buffy, it's Xander. We're sorry. We didn't know."

Buffy turned her head away, allowing the hair to cover her face. She couldn't believe it, wouldn't believe it. These people standing in front of her, they couldn't have been the people she had left behind. It had been too long since she had left, there was no way they could be anywhere near the same age as they had been when she had died.

"Buffy." Xander calling her name again.

"You aren't reaching her, she's too traumatized," Tara said. Buffy resisted the urge to speak. They were reaching her just fine; she just didn't want to believe that everything had been preserved almost exactly how it had been when she left fifty five freaking years ago.

"Hey, Buffy," Anya this time. Buffy wondered what the blunt ex-demon would say to try and get her to snap out of it. "Uh, here's some good news that might perk you right up. Uh, Xander and I have an announcement…"

"Anya!" Xander hissed. Buffy heard footsteps as Anya was pulled away.

"What?" Anya asked, sounding slightly offended. "Just trying to help."

"Buffy ... it's gonna be all right. We brought you back. You're home now," Xander said, his voice filling her ears. She raised her head to look at him and saw the sincerity in his face, in his eyes. "Yeah, that's it. You're home."

"Yeah, welcome home Slayer."

The gang turned around to see a group of demons standing behind them. Buffy was sure that they were the same demons she had seen earlier; the voice was definitely one she recognized, the voice of the leader of the group.

"Alive and kickin' after all!" the leader said with glee. Buffy was alarmed. Alive? No, it couldn't be, she couldn't be alive. When you were dead for as long as she had been, you were supposed to stay dead. Her friends looked alarmed as well, although she wasn't sure why they were alarmed. "Well, alive anyway. Not looking too good though, is she?"

"I don't see you winning too many beauty contests," Xander retorted as he shouldered his axe. "Unless the Miss "My Face Fell Off" pageant gets going."

"Big axe you got there," the leader said, appraising said axe with his eyes.

"The better to cut you down to size, grandma," Xander said. His bravado didn't seem to allay the rest of the group's worries and everyone still looked nervous. The leader of the demon group grinned and took a step towards the group.

"Incindere." A spell was cast, and a flash of flame flared up between Xander and the demon leader.

"Ah, so you've got a witch in the mix," the leader surmised.

"More than one," Tara confirmed.

"I happen to be a very powerful man-witch myself," Xander piped up. The demon leader looked amused. He shot a look at Willow, begging for a little help. "Or… male… is it a warlock?" Willow nodded in confirmation. "Warlock."

"Plus, we have a Slayer here, uh, who might actually be looking to eat some brains, so, I think a little quiet moseying, no hard feelings, and I'm sure your demon horde won't think any the less of you," Anya piped up.

"Now, my boys, see, that's tricky," the leader said with a shake of his head. "They came looking for a massacre, and I think you got exactly enough magic between you for a kiddie birthday party."

Buffy could feel her strength coming back, little by little, as she shook her head once again to shake out the cobwebs. The Slayer instincts were beginning to kick in again; humans good, demons bad. Must slay demons before they killed the humans.

"Then you'd be wrong," Willow said, stepping forward.

"Whoa. Well, I better back off, or you might, what? Pull a rabbit out of a hat?" the demon leader asked mockingly.

"Don't, don't do that!" Anya said, her voice horrified. She turned to Tara. "Why would she do that?"

"We don't want trouble, you don't want trouble," Willow said, trying to sound casual.

"Of course we want trouble," the demon leader replied. "We're really all about trouble."

"Not this kind," Willow retorted.

"Oh, I get your point," the demon said, before backhanding Willow so hard she went flying, landing on a pile of boxes. Xander charged at the demon, but was pushed out of the way as if he were an annoying gnat. Tara ran to Willow's side and Anya ran to Xander's, both concerned. "Now let me tell you something, children. We're not gonna fight you. We're just going to hold you down and enjoy ourselves for a few hours."

Buffy shook herself, beginning to feel her strength return in full force. The strength that had her leading men two times larger than her and two times tougher than her in battle. The strength that had her facing off against enormous masked creatures armed with only a sword and her determination to stay alive to fight another day.

"You might even live through it," the demon leader said as Buffy began walking towards him. He grinned evilly. "Except that certain of my boys got some… anatomical incompatibilities that, uh, tend to tear up little girls. So, who wants to go first?"

Buffy walked up and planted herself in front of him. He reminded her too much of that bastard Himura, and if she couldn't beat the crap out of him right now, she may as well take her frustrations out on this demon.

"I was really hoping it'd be you," the demon said, before taking a swing at her. The fist connected with her face, but did little to faze her. Her head swung to the side with the force of the blow, but otherwise she was completely unaffected by the blow. Blood trickled from her lip as she slowly turned her head so that she was facing forward again. Her face hardened into the patented Ayasegawa "you pissed me off, prepare to die" expression that she and her brother had perfected so many years ago.

Another punch came hurtling towards her face, but this time Buffy was ready for it. She held up her hand and easily caught the punch with her left hand as if it were nothing. Two more punches to the face with her right hand and a kick and he was down for the count, knocked out cold. She was surprised and confused that the demon had gone down so easily; she remembered them being a little harder to subdue than that.

"Does this mean we win?" Buffy heard Anya ask before the rest of the demons rushed her. The fight was confusing and violent, a mess of arms, legs, hands, feet, axes and crossbow bolts. By that time Anya and Xander had jumped into the fray, so it wasn't just Buffy fighting off the mob of demons. Even then, it was still too much and the demons overpowered Buffy for a time.

_No_, Buffy thought viciously, rising up against the fear that welled inside her. _I'm not helpless, I never was, and there's no way in hell I'm going to let a mob of demons take over and beat me senseless. Not now, never again._

Renewing her strength, Buffy threw the demons off of her. Her foot lashing out, she kicked one in the groin, and since they were so packed in, when he went down he took two with him. She didn't have long to celebrate, though, because another went after her with a baseball bat. She grabbed it, pulling on it so that it connected with a demon sneaking up behind her before she hit the demon that had attacked her with the bat in the first place.

Buffy was peripherally aware of the others fighting around her, but she had learned the hard way that you had to pay attention to your own battle if you wanted to come out alive. No one had died at that time, but it had been a close call and Buffy had spent some time directly under Captain Unohana's care. While there was no Captain Unohana here, the prospect of dying was a very real possibility, and she had to keep her attention on her own fight to make sure that she came out alive. There was no healing kido or high levels of reiatsu here.

A demon came after her with a chain, swinging it around his head before throwing one end so that it wrapped around the baseball bat Buffy had been using as a weapon. He yanked on the chain, pulling the bat out of Buffy's hand, leaving her weapon less before charging at her wielding a knife. Grabbing onto his arm, she used it to stab another charging demon before kicking behind her, knocking yet another demon down. She wrapped her arms around the knife wielding demon's head and twisted, breaking his neck.

It was done; there were no more demons to fight. Buffy looked around, surveying the carnage. Oddly, she didn't feel like her frustrations against Himura and his hired goons had been properly exercised. That was fine. She'd have to kick his ass, again, when she got back.

If she got back. The prospect of never seeing Soul Society or Seiretei again sobered her.

"Well, they wanted a massacre," Tara remarked as everyone began picking their way over the demon bodies that littered the alley. They assembled a line in front of Buffy, staring at her.

"She's Buffy. She's herself again," Xander said. Buffy looked at him. _He's nuts_, she thought. _I'm not myself! My Shinigami powers are gone, you moron, of course I'm not myself._ "You're back, Buffy. You really are."

Xander moved forward, his arms out to hug her. Buffy took a step back, wary. The alarm bells were back, telling her that, once again, these couldn't have been the friends she had left behind. People aged after fifty five years, even most demons, and the ones that didn't had either been turned into vampires, or had had some crazy mojo worked so that they wouldn't age.

"Whoa," Xander said, his voice gentle. "Whoa."

Buffy looked around at the carnage around her, and then back to the people who shouldn't still look like they looked now. She could feel the annoying trickle of blood on her lip, wiping it away as she felt it. She hated the feeling of blood trickling anywhere, which was why she had taken a page out of Ikkaku's book and kept blood-clotting ointment in her Zanpakuto. Which she didn't have right now.

Damn.

She caught sight of her hands. They were ugly then, caked in dirt and blood. Her blood. This was real. The fighting, the power loss… everything. It was real, and she couldn't handle it, not now.

She walked forward a few steps, wondering if she could get past the wall of people in front of her. They were watching her, she knew they were. Pushing her way past Xander she broke into a dead run, sprinting away, unaware of anything except for the wind in her hair and the pavement beneath her feet.

Buffy ran until the adrenaline began to wear off, and she didn't have the energy to run anymore. She reached another alley and began walking quickly down it, trying to put as much distance as she could between herself and the people who looked so much like her friends, but couldn't be. Not really.

There was something behind her, she could feel it. All of her senses were coming back full force and the demon sensing part of her brain was going off. She turned, just as another demon came at her, brandishing a piece of sharp metal. Buffy ducked the blow and punched him in the stomach before kicking him in the groin. Grabbing him, she flung him against the wall, impaling him on another piece of metal. He was dead.

She stared at the carcass for a moment, no emotions crossing her mind. It was just like slaying another hollow; part of the job. Suddenly, she heard something that, considering she was human now and shouldn't have had any spiritual powers, shouldn't have heard at all.

The cry of a hollow.

She looked up, wondering if she could see it from her position. It was huge, standing next to the tower she had jumped off of to her death. She ran off in that direction, wondering how in the world she was going to slay it without her Zanpakuto.

How she missed her Zanpakuto. She wondered what had happened to it.

It was a short run to the tower. All the while, Buffy ran through different ideas and plans to slay the huge hollow that was now threatening the town. Each one seemed as unlikely as the next. She thought about trying kido, but nixed it immediately. She was grossly out of practice, having not used it much, if at all, since her days at the academy. Even with the training she had gotten from Byakuya when they were younger, she was passable at best and walking kido bomb at worst.

She reached the tower site and the huge hollow in no time flat. She stared up at the rickety tower before surveying the huge hollow. Getting an idea and hoping to hell it worked, Buffy started climbing the tower, going as fast as she could while still being careful. She wasn't sure if she'd go back to Soul Society if she died this time, and she didn't want to find out this way anyway. She wanted a sure fire way to get home and committing suicide probably wasn't the way to go.

Reaching the top of the tower, Buffy ignored the creaking noises as she walked to the end of the walkway. She could see the hollow beneath her, and it was a small matter to jump and land on the thing's mask, shattering it and defeating it. She'd done it before, once, when her Zanpakuto had been knocked out of her reach and she'd had no other options. Then again, at that time she had had other things at her disposal, like flash steps and the enhanced durability that came with being a Shinigami. Even with those things, she'd gotten a sound lecture from both her brother and her captain about putting herself at unnecessary risk.

She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as she did so. Images flashed behind her eyelids, images from her past, images from just before her death. Dawn's voice rang in her head, the dialogue running through her head as if it had happened moments ago, and not over five decades ago.

"Dawnie, I have to," Buffy whispered going through the dialogue again. So many times her life and death had come to her, never letting her forget.

"Buffy?"

She frowned. This voice was different then the ones she was hearing in her head. It was there, it was real, it wasn't echoing in her head. She opened her eyes and looked to where the voice had come from. No, it couldn't be. Her baby sister Dawnie was standing there, at the top of the tower. She was apprehensive; obviously whatever had happened to her friends to keep them from ageing had happened to her sister as well. Buffy really didn't like the idea of everyone being the same age fifty some-odd years later without knowing how it had happened.

"Buffy," she said quietly, her voice amazed. "How… Is it you? I mean really?"

Buffy frowned in confusion. Of course she was her. She was standing there, wasn't she? All fleshy and stuff? She looked down; she wasn't wearing her Shinigami uniform, so she wasn't in spirit form, either.

"What are you do…" she began before the hollow cried again before shaking the tower. It had either seen or sensed Buffy and had attacked. The tower shook, creaking ominously. Dawn screamed and grabbed a pole for balance.

Buffy turned to the edge of the platform again. The hollow was closer, which would probably make it easier for her to jump and land on its face, crushing it.

"NO!" Dawn shrieked. "Don't!"

Buffy turned to Dawn, wondering if she could see the hollow. Probably not; none of them seemed to be able to see them before, so it was unlikely that they could now. Besides, Dawn was looking at her, not where the hollow was.

"Don't jump, Buffy, don't move!" Dawn exclaimed. "Just walk to me. Please!"

Buffy was uncertain. On the one hand, she wanted to get rid of the damn hollow before it lost interest in her and went wandering to see if there were other souls it could eat. On the other hand, this was her sister. She wanted to see if this was really her sister and to find out how she still looked like she did when she had left.

"Shinigami," the hollow rumbled from below. "Shinigami taste good."

She stared down at the hollow again. It was still there, thankfully, but she wasn't sure how much longer it would just stand there before realizing that the best way to get to the Shinigami above would be to pull the tower down. The huge hollow was definitely strong enough to pull it down, if it so chose.

"I'm your sister, Dawn," Dawn said, practically pleading. "We were up here, together… and then you went away. And you don't wanna do that again. I don't know how you're back, but you are, and please, just stay still."

The tower shook again, creaking ominously. The hollow was getting smarter; it had figured out that shaking the tower would bring it down. Perfect, she thought as the tower shook, causing Dawn to scream and fight to stay upright.

"Or-or move," Dawn stammered out. "B-but towards me. Because the tower was built by crazy people and I don't think it's holding up that well."

Buffy stared down again, wondering if she could survive the jump to the hollow. Now that she thought about it, really thought about it, she couldn't. She remembered the promise she'd made to Ikkaku. _Be careful_. Jumping off a rickety tower in the hope of kicking a hollow in the face was hardly being careful. Maybe… maybe she could convince the hollow to pull the tower down onto itself. Wouldn't be that hard, most hollows were extremely stupid.

"Dawn," she said softly, trying to figure out a way to save them both without much injury.

"Buffy!"

"Dawn!" Buffy exclaimed, turning and running across the platform. She reached Dawn and pulled her to her feet before taking her into the body of the tower. She had to figure out a way to get them off the tower as quickly as possible. Seeing a length of rope hanging from a pulley, Buffy grabbed onto it, Dawn wrapped up in her other arm.

They fell hard and fast, Dawn screaming all the while as they plummeted to the ground. Suddenly they stopped, something catching on the rope. They hung there for a few moments, Buffy looking down to see if they could jump and remain relatively uninjured. The ground was still a long way away.

Before Buffy could make the decision, the pulley failed, breaking. They fell from their position, hard and fast, landing on a pile of cardboard at the bottom of the tower. The hollow hadn't seen them yet, still rocking the tower in an attempt to dislodge whoever was on there from the tower.

They lay on their backs, breathing heavily as the adrenaline rush began to subside. The rest was short lived, though, as the platform from the tower had dislodged and was now falling towards them. Grabbing Dawn, they both rushed to their feet and ran, leaving the vicinity just before the piece of tower fell on them. Had they been any slower, they would have been crushed.

The rest of the tower began to fall as they ran, too fast for the hollow that had been shaking it. Buffy cringed when she heard the hollow scream as it was crushed, killed by the weight.

They continued to run until the adrenaline rush truly wore off. They turned a corner before collapsing in a heap, breathing heavily. The tower well and truly had fallen by that time, the crashing noise dying down as the twisted metal settled.

"Buffy?" Dawn asked tentatively. Buffy looked at her, apprehensive. The younger Summers sister smiled in disbelief. "Buffy… you… you… you're really here."

She touched Buffy's cheek before hugging her. Tears began falling from her cheeks, the hot liquid dripping onto Buffy's neck. "You're alive, and you're home. You're home."

_No I'm not_, Buffy thought, even though she wrapped her arms around Dawn all the same. _This isn't home to me anymore_.

XOXOXO

So, Chapter 6 is here for your reading pleasure. Hope it lived up to any expectations you had. As always, reviews are awesome, constructive criticism is appreciated and flames will be used to toast marshmallows.


	7. Chapter 7

**Note**: Here's another chapter that borrows heavily from the show, this time Episode 3. Other episode based chapters won't be this blatantly stolen from.

Chapter 7

The walk back to the house at Revello Drive was a rather uneventful one. Dawn kept touching her, making sure that she was still there. Her hair, her hand, her face. All reassurance for the younger Summers sister and Buffy didn't have the heart to shy away from the touch. She knew Dawn needed this, just like Yumichika had needed it after she had been kidnapped or the times where she had ended up at the fourth division's barracks those rare times they got to her before she could run and hide to patch herself up.

"Home, see?" Dawn said, her voice a little uncertain. Buffy stared at the house, her face blank. "You're back home, and we're all okay now.

It wasn't home anymore. The apartment back at the eleventh division with Yumichika and Ikkaku most of the time was home. Rangiku's apartment in the tenth division and Iba's in the seventh division were second and third homes, respectively. Hell, the tiny apartment at the thirteenth division, the one she hadn't even unpacked yet, was probably more home than this house. At least that was still in Seiretei.

Dawn grabbed her hand and led her up the three stairs that led to the deck before unlocking the door. She didn't invite Buffy in verbally, just leading her over the threshold. _Smart girl_, Buffy thought as she entered the house. _I've taught her well_.

The house was dark as they entered, Dawn locking the door behind them before flipping on the living room light. Buffy surveyed the room; it was strange, different from when she had left.

"It's different," she said, her voice quiet. It was also very western, something that she wasn't used to anymore. Well, it looked like she was going to have to get used to it, and quickly.

"A little," Dawn agreed, standing next to Buffy awkwardly. "Willow and Tara live here now and, um, we didn't do much. We moved some of the chairs and took out some of the little tables but…"

Buffy only half heard the changes that had happened as her gaze fell on the smiling portrait of her mother. Her dead mother. It was too much, too soon and she couldn't take it. Buffy turned and walked out of the living room and into the dark foyer, cutting Dawn off as she did so. She walked to the kitchen, Dawn following quickly to flick on the lights for her.

"This is the same," Dawn said, gesturing to the kitchen. "Except for the computer stuff. That's Willow's, obviously. We eat at the other end…"

Buffy walked behind Dawn, exiting the kitchen and walking away. The younger girl followed, leading Buffy to her old room. It was unchanged, the exact same as it had been when she left, except she didn't remember the bed being so perfectly made. Someone had probably made it and it hadn't been touched since. Dawn grabbed some of the first clothes she could find; a white tank top, a white collared shirt and a pair of black pants.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up," Dawn said, leading Buffy down the hall to the bathroom. Buffy was mute as Dawn undressed her, leaving her underwear on, and washed every bit of her she could reach before handing Buffy the clothes she had picked out for her.

"There you are, I knew you were under that dirt somewhere," Dawn said, her voice hitching a little as she wiped one last smear of dirt from Buffy's neck. She stopped wiping, feeling awkward, when Buffy didn't react at all. "You remember what Mom used to say? Either wash that neck or plant potatoes." She laughed a little, awkwardly, and still no reaction from Buffy. "Yeah, I never thought it was funny either."

She stood there awkwardly, her face torn between a smile and an expression of apprehension. Buffy still couldn't believe that she was in the human world, in her human body and in the house she had lived in as a human. She was in shock, and she supposed Dawn wasn't taking her silence all that well.

"You wanna button that, or, um… ?" Dawn asked. Buffy looked down at her shirt, and Dawn followed her gaze. She spotted Buffy's injured hands, taking one in her own. Even though she wasn't in the eleventh division anymore, its policies and traditions were still ingrained in her. One of them was never let someone see just how extensively injured you were if you could help it. Buffy extracted her hand from Dawn's grasp, hiding it behind her back. "Oh, well, we can take care of that after."

"Okay," Buffy replied, her eyes downcast. She looked up at Dawn briefly, before turning her eyes down again. Had Dawn always been that tall?

"Here, I'll do your shirt and then we'll do your hands," Dawn said, moving to button up Buffy's shirt. Buffy couldn't be in the same room as someone else, not now. The bathroom was too small, too enclosed. She wanted to see what else has changed, so she turned and left the bathroom, leaving Dawn behind. "See how nice you look?"

Buffy walked through the second bathroom door, the one that led to her mother's room. The only light illuminating the room was the light from the bathroom. Dawn followed her, turning on the lights. Buffy blinked; the lights were so bright, her eyes so sensitive. Hopefully that would wear off; she didn't want to deal with eye sensitivity for the rest of her life.

"Mom's room," Dawn said quietly. "I know it's really different now."

"Willow and Tara… this is their room?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah, well, it seemed to make the most sense," Dawn replied. "No one was using it, and it's the biggest. But, you know, now that you're here we'll have to figure out something to do."

Buffy walked around the room, surveying the things in it. It was different than what she remembered, strange. Everything was so strange. This didn't feel like her home anymore. Dawn followed her, using her longer stride to get in front of Buffy, forcing her to stop walking.

"Buffy?" she asked, her voice a little more forceful than it had been, but still cautious. "You wanna, like, stop? We can… we can sit down and talk."

"What… what else is different?" Buffy asked, not meeting Dawn's eyes.

"Do you mean about the house, or…?" Dawn asked, leaving the question open ended. "Um… let's see. Giles… it's so weird. He left today. Because you were… he'll come right back, I'll call him. Someone will call him."

"What…" Buffy began, but stopped herself.

"What, what?" Dawn asked, concerned.

"Uh, what um, will you say to him?" Buffy asked. Her attention was drawn to a noise downstairs, the sound of a door opening. Buffy looked around, threat assessment. Noises could mean danger, and danger was not of the good. "What was that?"

"It's okay, it's okay," Dawn reassured her.

"Dawn? Dawn! Are you there?"

"It's just Spike," Dawn said after the British accented voice floated up from the lower level of the house. She turned towards the door and spoke loudly in the direction of the hallway. "I'm here!"

Dawn looked at Buffy apologetically before turning and leaving, heading down the hallway and down the stairs. Buffy followed, staying a little behind her sister.

"Thank God," she heard Spike say as he slammed the door. "You scared me half to death, or more to death. You… I could kill you."

"Spike," Dawn said, trying to calm him.

"I mean it, I could rip your head off one handed and drink from your brain stem!" he exclaimed, worried. It was painful to watch; Ikkaku had threatened her with violence when he was worried about her. It was strange to see someone else doing the same thing.

"Look," Dawn said, turning towards the footsteps on the stairs. Buffy descended the stairs slowly, uncertainly.

"Yeah, I've seen the bloody bot before," Spike said. "Didn't think she'd patch up so…"

He broke off, staring at her. She met his gaze as she walked, reaching the bottom of the stairs far sooner than she liked. She wasn't that robot, and she wanted Spike to know that.

"She's kind of, um, she's been through a lot," Dawn said, keeping herself between Buffy and Spike. "With the death. But I think she's okay."

He stared as Buffy lowered her eyes, busying herself with buttoning her shirt. She couldn't handle the intensity of his gaze, not now.

"Spike, are you okay?" Dawn asked after a few moments.

"I'm… what did you do?" he asked, his eyes never leaving Buffy.

"Me? Nothing," Dawn replied. Buffy raised her gaze so that she was looking Spike in the face.

"Her hands," he said, nodding at the injuries.

"I, um, was gonna fix them," Dawn replied as Buffy dropped her hands, hiding her injuries from view. "I don't know how they got like that."

"I do," Spike said quietly. "Clawed her way out of her coffin, that's how. Ain't that right?"

"Yeah," Buffy replied, just as quietly, averting her gaze. "That's what I had to do."

She couldn't look him in the eye, not right now. He was acting like Ikkaku did when she was injured and he was trying to hold himself back from hugging her, making sure that she was all right. It hit her too close to home right then, that she may not ever see the bald headed pain in her ass again. The thought didn't comfort her anywhere near as much as she thought it would. In fact, it made her sick to her stomach.

"Done it myself," Spike said in understanding. And he probably had, being a vampire and all. He had probably been buried before he had risen. He looked at her, his eyes softening in sympathy as he did so. Yep, reminded her way too much of Ikkaku. Even Kenpachi, a little. It didn't comfort her in the slightest. "Come on, let me take care of you."

He held out his arm in invitation for Buffy to descend the last two steps so that she would be standing level with him. She did so, and as she reached the bottom of the stairs Spike placed a hand on her shoulder, gently leading her into the living room.

"Get some stuff," he said to Dawn before following Buffy. "Uh, mercurochrome, bandages."

"Okay," Dawn replied, rushing off to the kitchen.

Spike followed Buffy into the living room; she'd already settled herself in a chair. He sat down on an ottoman in front of her, taking her hands into his own. He looked at her hands for a moment, hissing through his teeth at how bad they looked before meeting Buffy's eyes.

"How long was I gone?" Buffy asked, dreading the answer. It would give her some clarity, though, especially as to why everyone still looked the same.

"A hundred and forty seven days yesterday, a hundred and forty eight today," Spike replied. "Except today doesn't count, does it? How long was it for you? Where you were?"

Almost five months. Only five months. She was a little relieved; at least she hadn't been gone for decades, like she'd spent in Soul Society. She knew time moved differently in Soul Society than it did in the human world, she just wasn't sure how differently.

"Longer," Buffy replied. She didn't want to reveal how long, not yet.

"I got the stuff," Dawn said, walking into the living room with a bottle and a roll of bandages as the front door opened.

"Is she here?" Willow asked, first to Buffy's side.

"She's here!" Anya said.

"We didn't know where you were," Xander added.

"You ran away," Anya interjected.

"Buffy!" Willow exclaimed.

"Are you okay?" Tara asked.

Buffy stood when faced with four additional people in her personal space. When outnumbered, always make sure you stayed on your feet. It was easier to defend yourself that way.

"You knew she was back?" Dawn asked as Spike got up and left. "How did you know?"

"You're not a zombie, are you?" Anya asked.

"Anya!" Xander exclaimed sternly.

"Are you in pain?" "What do you remember?" "What do you remember about what happened?"

Buffy sat down again, feeling overwhelmed. So many people talking at her at once, it was too much. All she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and wish the world away. Except she wouldn't actually use the "W" word, because wishing never actually ended up the way you wanted it to.

"Hey! Back off," Dawn said, looking at the group warily. They looked at her, surprised. "You did this. What did you do?"

"A-a spell," Willow said, sounding as if it wasn't a big deal. "We did a spell."

"We didn't think it worked, but…" Anya began before she got cut off by Dawn.

"Is she going to be okay?" the younger girl asked, sounding worried.

"I'm okay," Buffy said with a small half smile. She turned and looked at the four people standing in front of her. She would have to grin and bear it, make them think she was going to be okay, if she wanted them to go away and leave her alone. "I'm gonna be fine. I remember… you brought me back."

"What was it like?" Anya asked.

"I-I can't," Buffy said quietly, averting her gaze. She couldn't talk about it now, how she had left all of her friends and family behind. She couldn't tell these people that she had found another family, one that she had been with much longer than she had with the people in front of her.

"It's okay, you don't have to talk about this Buff," Xander said reassuringly. "Hey, do you want anything? Anything. Pizza! I'll get you pizza."

"Buffy likes pizza," Anya said with a nod.

"Yeah, something to eat…" Tara began.

"She doesn't want pizza!" Willow interjected.

"I just meant…"

"Guys!" Dawn exclaimed. "Back off!"

"Right, Dawn's right," Willow said, snapping out of it. "We should just be quiet, and let Buffy tell us what she wants."

Willow, Tara, Xander and Anya stood there, staring at her expectantly. It was unnerving and made her feel like she was having that nightmare, the one where you were in front of the class in your underwear and everyone was staring at you. She rose so that she didn't feel so closed in with everyone towering over her.

"I-I think I just wanna go to sleep," she said quietly.

"That's a good idea," Tara said, nodding. "You… you should sleep."

"Right, long day," Willow agreed. She smiled at Buffy. "But Buffy… be happy. We got you out. We really did it."

Buffy stood there awkwardly, her mind going a million miles a minute. Where did they think she was that she needed to be taken out? It was obvious that they did not do their research. If they had, they would have seen that Soul Society was a good place. Not quite heaven, but a good place. Most of the time, anyway.

"Tired," Buffy said apologetically. She just wanted to get away from them.

"Well, yeah, I mean…" Anya began, trying to find the right words. "Jet lag from hell has gotta be, you know, jet lag from hell."

"My room is still…?" Buffy asked Dawn, turning away from the four people who had brought her back.

"Yeah," Dawn replied with a nod. "Yes, it's your room."

Buffy turned and left, parting the small crowd in front of her. She had to get away from them. They definitely hadn't done any kind of research. Willow had assumed that she had been in some sort of hell dimension and had taken it upon herself to bring her back. What had caused her to think that? Wasn't there something Willow or Tara could have done to see if she had, in fact, landed in a hell dimension?

Even though she'd been gone for less than a few hours, she already missed her friends. Would they know something had gone wrong? _Had_ something gone wrong? Had she been brought back into her old body due to Willow's spell, or because of Kurotsuchi's so-called microbes? There were too many variables, too many unknowns. Was she already off the radar, and were people frantically searching for her? Probably not. Kurotsuchi had seemed far too pleased to get her onto the hellmouth; he would have made damn sure he could monitor her, even if no one else knew he was doing so.

_Sorry Ikkaku_, she thought. _I tried being careful, but it didn't quite work. Shouldn't have let Kurotsuchi touch me after what he'd done to me earlier_.

Staring at herself in the mirror, she surveyed her appearance. She was unused to the clothes, having become accustomed to the soft black cotton and the loose-fit cut of her uniform. She hadn't worn a pair of tight pants in decades and she found that she preferred her uniform. She missed the loose fabric, the ease of movement, the fact that no one judged her on how her body looked. Most of the time, anyway.

She sat on her bed, looking around a bit before her gaze fell on a framed photograph on her bedside table. She grabbed it and took a closer look. It was one of her, Xander and Willow. She had two similar photographs back home, one with her, Yumichika and Ikkaku and one with her, Iba and Rangiku. She sighed, placing the photo back onto the bedside table. She crossed the room to the bulletin board, with yet more pictures tacked onto it. She stared at them, taking in the faces, watching as the faces morphed into hollow-like skulls. She jumped back, surprised, closing her eyes to shut out the image. No, her friends weren't evil, they wouldn't turn into hollows when they died. They had the best of intentions in bringing her back.

Suddenly feeling very tired, Buffy stripped down, searching the drawers for the baggiest pyjamas she could find. Sipping them on, she crawled into bed, asleep before her head hit the pillow.

The next morning Buffy awoke still feeling drained. Strange dreams did not contribute to a good night's sleep. She had dreamed that she had woken Tara and Willow by screaming at them and throwing something. Something about blood… staining. It was all hazy once she woke up. Maybe that was the point.

She got out of bed, stretching as she did so. She walked to the closet, trying to find something suitable to wear. It was all tight fitting clothing, not something she would have liked but it looked like she didn't have many other options, unless she went downstairs in her pyjamas. Obviously not an option, Buffy picked out the darkest clothes she could find, a black button down shirt and a pair of dark jeans. At least they weren't skin tight and there was some ease to the fabric, but it was nothing like her uniform or the beautiful silk kimonos she had worn while in Soul Society.

Coming down the stairs, she entered the kitchen, exploring a little as she did so. Everything seemed to be where she remembered it. Finding a box of tea, she went about boiling the water and dropping a teabag in a mug. It wasn't the same as tea leaves or Rangiku's special blend, but it would have to do until she could find a way to duplicate it.

She drank her tea, looking out at the yard. She saw Willow, Tara, Anya and Xander sitting around, talking. Wondering what was up, she grabbed her mug and walked out to hear part of a conversation, part that she didn't know if she wanted to hear or not.

"Can we do that?" Xander asked. "Kill it?"

"We killing something?" Buffy asked, curious. If she couldn't kill hollows like she was sent there to do, at least she could kill demons like her human self had been doing for years.

"Buffy!" Willow said, sounding surprised. "You're not supposed to be up."

"H-how are you feeling?" Tara asked. "You okay?"

Tara was the only one who wasn't acting all on edge. Buffy liked that, and was thankful for Tara. And Dawn, and Spike; the other three, not so much. They were almost acting as if she were about to rip their hearts out or something. However, she couldn't dwell on that right now. There was something to kill, and she was going to kill it.

"So, what are we killing?" Buffy asked, going into "Bad Ass Fourth Seat Buffy Ayasegawa" mode, the one that had gotten her the reputation she had back in Seiretei. Most of it was a load of crap, but the younger members of her old squad didn't need to know that.

"A demon you brought back from Hell with you," Anya replied in her usual blunt manner.

"Oh," Buffy replied simply. Yep, they definitely hadn't tried to figure out where she had been before bringing her back. While it wasn't unlikely that something had, in fact, had piggybacked her cross dimensional jump, she really didn't like the fact that they all seemed to assume she had been in hell and took every chance they could to remind her of it. Well, Anya was. However, making them feel guilty wouldn't make her feel any better, not now.

"It's not like she's making it sound," Willow said, trying to sound reassuring. "A little haunting-type stuff. Boo-scary, everything's normal."

"Y-you shouldn't worry about it," Tara agreed.

"Um, I remember something last…" Buffy began, finding it hard to speak. Her friends taking on hollow masks was not something she wanted to see, and definitely not something she wanted to think about. She knew how hollows came about, after all, having been tutored by Byakuya and his horrible artwork. "Last night… uh…"

She trailed off, thinking about what she had seen again. The images flashed in front of her brain again, her friend's faces were normal one minute and then masked like hollows the next.

"Buff?" Xander asked, looking at her curiously.

"Um, the photographs of us… they changed," Buffy replied, snapping out of her reverie briefly, shaking her head to dispel the images from her mind.

"How did they change?" Tara asked, curious.

"They were… dead," Buffy replied. "I-I-I mean, we were dead. Like, um… dead bodies? But, but then they were okay. So I just, you know, figured it was me. That I was going crazy."

"Well, maybe you are going crazy," Anya reasoned. "You know, from Hell."

Buffy really had to control herself not to strangle Anya. Or at least smack her. Out of all of her so-called friends, she was being the most irritating about the Hell thing, throwing it in her face every chance she got. She wanted to scream at them that she hadn't been in hell at all, but there was no point in doing so. It's not like they could, or even would, help her get home.

She missed Seiretei so much already and it had been less than a day since she had seen it.

"No, you're fine," Anya said with a scoff.

"You are," Willow agreed. "And Buffy, we're… we're so glad."

"Yeah," Xander piped in. "This thing, this haunting thing, we'll fix it. And then we'll still have you back which is… it's so important."

"Yes," Willow said.

"It's wonderful," Tara agreed with a nod.

_Glad you guys think so_, Buffy thought_. Too bad I can see through your fake smiles. You're all on edge, waiting for me to snap or something._

"We should get to work," Buffy said. Emotions were not things she could deal with right now. Killing stuff was what she could deal with right now. She wished she could go hollow hunting, but she couldn't. Not without her Shinigami powers.

Books. Piles and piles of books. At least when she was working with the Gotei 13, there was only one thing she had to kill, and there was a pretty sure fire way to do it. If there were any other beasties to kill, the twelfth division usually researched it first before an elite team was sent out to either collect it or take it out. Kurotsuchi preferred collection even if the beastie happened to be lethal and could destroy Soul Society, so Buffy made sure that she killed whatever she was sent to get a hold of.

"What's the list?" Dawn asked, reading over Willow's shoulder. Buffy watched the interaction, remaining quiet for now. No point in speaking if she didn't have to.

"Possible hitchhikers," Anya replied. Buffy waited for another remark about Hell and how she'd brought it with her when she came back. Surprisingly, none came from Anya.

"Demons that might have come out of Hell the same time Buffy did," Xander clarified. Oh, there it was. Buffy hid her scowl behind her book.

"Skaggmore demons, Trellbane demons, Skitterers, Large and Small Bone Eaters," Dawn read over Willow's shoulder. Buffy wondered when Dawn had been allowed to be near a research party. "If we get to pick, I say we go with the Small Bone Eaters."

"Well, that just means they prefer to eat things with small bones," Anya said. "Like you."

"That's just what we have so far," Willow explained. "Five species of demon that have been known to move transdimensionally. Two of them may be invisible in this dimension, and, uh, two others can perform spells to alter perception."

"Well, that's four," Anya said. "What's the other one like?"

"Uh, like the others, except dripping in viscous fluid," Tara replied.

"Ew," Dawn said mildly.

"So, should we concentrate on how to kill those, or should we find more?" Xander asked.

"I'm not sure," Willow replied. "Maybe… maybe some of us can, uh, keep going finding more, and the others…"

"I miss Giles," Buffy said suddenly, interrupting Willow. She did, really. He was the one who was good at getting them to research the correct things.

"Oh, he's coming back. I talked to him," Willow reassured her. "I know I'm kind of a poor substitute, but until then we'll get it done."

"I think I should patrol," Buffy said, putting her book down and getting up. She couldn't stand being in that room any longer; you could cut the tension with a Zanpakuto.

"Well, I know we'll find something soon," Willow reassured her.

"Yeah," Buffy replied, not quite believing her. She turned to leave.

"Do you need us to go with you?" Xander asked. Buffy turned to face them again.

"We can do that," Anya agreed.

"No," Buffy replied. "I-I need to go. Sorry."

"You should go," Dawn agreed. Buffy turned and left the magic shop then, not turning back even when Dawn obviously used a ploy to get her to do just that.

She just had to get away. If she heard any more cracks about how she had been in Hell or that she had brought something back from Hell with her, she'd probably have to break something. Coupled with the fact that everyone was walking around on eggshells around her and it was just difficult for her to be around them.

Walking slowly, Buffy let her feet do the leading, her head lost in the clouds. She had so much on her mind, and no one to talk to about it. Her friends couldn't know that she hadn't been in Hell; they'd gone to so much effort to have her come back. Then again, it might not have been entirely Willow's spell that had brought her back to her old body. Those microbes, whatever they were, that Kurotsuchi gave her, could have caused her to go back to her old body instead of a gigai. Then again, she could have been without a gigai at all while in Sunnydale; she'd heard of extended missions where it was essential for a Shinigami to have access to their powers at all times.

While she had been thinking, her feet were leading her to a cemetery. Figures, Buffy thought, keeping her senses alert. She recognized this cemetery in particular; it was the one Spike had set up camp in one of the bigger crypts. She idly wondered if he still lived there; he could have moved in the five months she had been gone.

She reached the crypt, entering it as quietly as she could. Her footsteps echoed on the concrete floor, and she was sure if anyone was there they'd be able to hear her easily. Spike had made some changes to his pad. There were a couple of chairs, a television and a selection of magazines on a table.

She had been looking at the magazines when she heard footsteps on a ladder. She looked up, to see Spike staring at her, a large knife in his hand.

"You should be careful," he said quietly, his eyes never leaving her. "Never know what kind of villain's got a knife to your back."

Buffy's eyes fell to the knife in his hand, but the shiny piece of metal wasn't what held her gaze. It was the fresh injuries on his knuckles that made her curious.

"Your hand's hurt," she said.

"Hmm," Spike said. "Same with you."

"Right," Buffy replied, hiding her hands behind her back. She wasn't sure why she was there now, couldn't remember if she had had a specific reason to come and see him. The silence was awkward, the only sound being Spike moving to put the knife on a ledge on the wall.

"Willow's getting pretty strong, isn't she? Bringing you back. It's hard to get a good night's death around here," he said with a slight smile, getting no response from Buffy. He gestured vaguely to one of the chairs. "You can sit down. Got furniture."

Buffy sat down on the edge of one of the chairs, her eyes not leaving Spike.

"You should see the downstairs too, it's quite posh," Spike remarked. He crossed the room and sat on the trunk that supported the television set, facing Buffy. Buffy stared at him, trying to look through him. She was trying to decipher any motivations he might have. He stared back at her, taking a deep breath before continuing. "Uh, I do remember what I said. The promise. To protect her… If I had done that, even if I didn't make it, you wouldn't have had to jump."

Buffy sat there, averting her gaze. Well, at least he wasn't walking on eggshells around her like the others were, although reverent disbelief wasn't much better.

"But I want you to know I did save you," Spike continued. "Not when it counted, of course… but… after that. Every night after that. I'd see it all again… do something different. Faster or more clever, you know? Dozens of times, lots of different times. Every night I save you."

It wasn't very often when someone talked about saving her. She was Buffy, she was the Slayer, and it was assumed that she could take care of herself. There had been some mild incidents about people saying they wanted to be the rescuer, that they wanted to be the knight in shining armour, but there were few on this plane that could. Until Yumichika and Ikkaku had come along, that is. Yumichika had saved her life the first time they had met, and over the years there had to be at least half a dozen times where he and Ikkaku came to her rescue. As a Shinigami she wasn't expected to work alone most of the time, and it had taken years to train her out of that habit. It was… nice to hear it from someone else, someone would probably be capable of saving her ass if she needed it.

"Thanks, Spike," Buffy said, a small, imperceptible smile coming to her lips. "It really means a lot to hear you say that."

"Well… y'know… yeah," Spike said, looking away bashfully.

"I-I should go," Buffy said quietly. "You know, sun's coming up soon and you probably need to go hide so you don't turn all dusty."

"Yeah… yeah, good idea, that," Spike said. "See ya around, Slayer."

"See you, Spike," Buffy replied, getting up. She turned and left the crypt, heading straight for home. She was tired and feeling emotionally drained, and she really didn't feel like dealing with the others. Not now.

She made it back to the house in seemingly record time, letting her feet lead her again. She opened the front door and entered before closing it again, locking it behind her. She tossed her keys onto the hall table before heading up the stairs. Even though she hadn't really done any real patrolling, she felt exhausted. Maybe she really did have interdimensional jet lag. She refused to refer to it as jet lag from hell, because she hadn't been in hell.

As she entered her room, she heard a voice. Barely there, barely a whisper, but it was there.

"You don't belong here."

She tried to find the source of the voice, stamping down the belief that it was right, she didn't belong here. A misty figure, taking on a vague humanoid shape, floated into the room. Buffy tried to take a swing at it, but her hand went right through it. A tendril of mist shot out, hitting her and sending her flying into the furniture. Regaining her balance, she looked around wildly, trying to see where the mist had gone. What the hell? she thought, wondering what was going on. It was almost like humans getting attacked by a hollow; most normal humans couldn't see or touch hollows, but hollows could easily physically attack humans.

The mist reappeared in front of her again, and again she tried to hit it. Still no fist on flesh connection. This was getting frustrating. It was like trying to fight Yoruichi-san or Byakuya when they were using flash steps. Easily two of the fastest people in Soul Society, when they were pulling all of their tricks it was difficult to catch them.

The mist swirled around her, reforming behind her. She tried to punch it again and still nothing. The demon mist threw her again, sending her into the hallway and colliding with the doorframe across the hall. She turned around and looked into her bedroom from the hallway; the mist wasn't there anymore. Cautiously, she re-entered the room, completely on her guard.

"Did they tell you, you belonged here?" the demon whispered. The mist reappeared, putting out a hand. Buffy tried to grab a hold of it, and still nothing. She really wished she could use her spirit body right now and have access to her Shinigami powers. Maybe that would level the playing field a little.

"Did they say this was your home again?" hissed the demon. The mist disappeared and Buffy looked around wildly for it. It reappeared in front of her as she tried to hit it, yet again, cursing to herself as, yet again, her fist went right through it.

"Did they offer you pretty lies?" it hissed in her ear as it dissipated and reappeared behind her. Buffy could sense the tendrils of mist enveloping her before she could feel the crushing constriction on her ribcage. "Or did they offer you pretty lies?"

It continued to constrict her ribcage and Buffy tried to ignore the demon's words. It was hard when you believed many of the things the evil creature said, but it wasn't the time to worry about it. There was evil to be defeated, and she was the one to defeat it. Again.

She tried fighting against her bonds, surprised when the demon was solid enough for her to break through the mist. She stumbled slightly and turned to try and hit the mist again, only to be thrown aside yet again. Bouncing off the bed, Buffy fell and landed between the bed and the wall. Here's hoping everything's exactly the way I left it, Buffy thought as she reached under the bed, her hand closing on an axe handle. Perfect.

"You're the one who's barely there." the demon rasped as Buffy got to her feet, axe in hand. She swung at the mist, unable to make contact as it floated away. She tried to hit the demon again with no success, although it was beginning to take a more distinct form. Maybe she'd be able to defeat it yet. "Sent to this earth like a bubble. You won't even disturb the air when you leave."

There was a commotion at the door as Dawn, Xander and Anya stopped at the doorway and stared. Not now, she couldn't deal with having to worry about keeping other people safe. She also didn't want Dawn to see her killing a demon.

"Go, get Dawn out of here!" she exclaimed urgently before turning her attention back to the demon.

Fully solid now, it looked a bit like a zombie woman. It stood a full head taller than the Slayer, but that hadn't slowed her down before. Swinging the axe, she tried to make contact with the demon to bring this fight to an end. The demon grabbed on to the axe handle; Slayer and demon struggled for a few moments before the demon hit her with its other hand, causing her to drop the axe. As soon as she regained her bearings, Buffy was hit by the demon again, the blow powerful enough to send her to the floor.

_Okay, that's it, this has gone on long enough_, Buffy thought as she grabbed the axe and got to her feet. She swung the axe and it finally hit true severing the demon's head from it's body. She watched the head bounce across the floor a couple of times before the demon's body fell to the ground. Huh, no blood, Buffy thought, impressed. Makes clean up a hell of a lot easier.

"That's probably one of those things I'm not supposed to see, right?" Dawn asked.

About a week passed since the misty demon incident. The day was beautiful, the sun was shining and the birds were singing.

And for the past week, Buffy had been faking being happy. Well, mostly faking. She was happy around Dawn because she really was appreciative that she could see her younger sister again. The others… not so much. They'd torn her from Soul Society, her home, and her second family, her found family, and she couldn't forgive them for that. Not yet.

Noticing the brown bag on the counter that Dawn hadn't taken when she left, Buffy grabbed it and headed outside. Thankfully, Dawn had just made it halfway down the front walk.

"Dawn!" she exclaimed, getting her sister's attention.

"What's wrong?" Dawn asked, alarmed. Buffy came down the stairs and made her way down the front walk until she reached Dawn.

"Lunch," she said simply, holding out the bag.

"You made me lunch?" Dawn asked, smiling as she took the bag. "Wow. Thanks."

"You better go. You've been out of school since… I got back," Buffy said solemnly. "And you know what they say. Those of us who fail history. Doomed to repeat it in summer school."

"Thank you," Dawn said, hugging Buffy. Buffy hugged her back, feeling borderline happy. She had her sister back. Now, if only she could have her brother here, she'd be extremely happy. However, the world didn't work that way, so she took what she could get. Dawn pulled out of the hug first and regarded Buffy seriously. "Are you okay?"

"I'm going to start charging money for every person who asks me that," Buffy remarked dryly.

"Everyone's been doing that, huh?" Dawn asked.

"A little bit," Buffy said wryly. Understatement of the century. Everyone was asking her if she was okay every five minutes when she was around.

"It's because they care about you," Dawn replied. "When you were gone… it was bad when you were gone. But it'll be better now. Now that they can see you being happy. That's all they want."

Dawn turned and walked off and Buffy watched her, thoughtful. They thought she was happy? They were completely wrong, but she might as well let them keep their illusion. She wasn't going to tell them where she'd really been; there was no point. There was a slim to none possibility of going back, and the sooner she could shove it out of her mind and move on, the easier it would be. She had been able to move on in her life in Soul Society after her death, so how was this any different? Resolved, Buffy turned back to the house to make sure the door was locked before turning and heading to The Magic Box.

As she walked, she went over in her mind what she was going to say. It would be so hard to lie to them, to completely renounce her old life, but it had to be done. There wasn't really any other way to do it really. The walk to the shop didn't take nearly as long as she thought it would, and in no time she was pushing the door open, the little bell announcing her arrival.

"Buffy!" Willow said in surprise. "Hey!"

"Hey, you got Dawn off to school all right?" Xander asked. "'Cause I was thinking, if you need help picking her up, I…"

"It's okay, I got it. Look, you guys, um, there's this thing… so I'm just gonna say it," Buffy began nervously. The words she had rehearsed in her head weren't coming out as easily as she thought they would. Willow, Tara, Xander and Anya all looked at her, expectantly. "You brought me back. I was in a… I was in hell. I, um… I can't think too much about what it was like. But it felt like the world abandoned me there. And suddenly… you guys did what you did."

"It was Willow," Tara piped up. "She knew what to do."

"Okay," Buffy said. "So you did that. And the world came rushing back. Thank you. You guys gave me the world. I can't tell you what it means to me. And I should have said it before."

"You're welcome," Willow said tearfully.

Willow crossed the short distance between the two of them, wrapping her arms around Buffy. She closed her eyes, mentally apologizing to everyone in Soul Society. _It wasn't heaven, but it was home_, she thought.

"Welcome home, Buffy," Xander said before adding himself to the hug. Buffy took a deep breath, wondering if there was anyone she could tell the truth to. Probably not.

"I-I should probably get out of your guys' hair, see if anything changed since I've been gone," Buffy said when the hug broke up. "I'll see you guys later, yeah?"

Nods and noises of assent were heard as Buffy pasted a small smile on her face before she left, her face falling as soon as she was in the back alley of the magic shop. Her brain was reeling a million miles a minute.

"Buffy."

She looked up, startled and obviously not expecting company. She frowned; it was daylight, and Spike was outside. That just wasn't right.

"Spike, it's daylight and you're…"

"Not on fire?" he supplied before looking up at the sky. "Sun's low enough, shady enough here."

Buffy hugged her middle, wondering if she could tell Spike about where she'd really been. Out of everyone, he hadn't been treating her like a piece of glass. He hadn't assumed that she had been in hell, for which she was grateful for.

"I was gonna go inside, but I overheard you and the Super Friends exchanging a special moment and I came over a bit queasy," he joked. Buffy was only half-listening, trying to make up her mind about whether or not to tell him. "Say, aren't you leaving a hole in the middle of some soggy group hug?"

"Just wanted a little time alone," Buffy replied quietly. She walked over and sat on a packing crate, still pensive.

"Oh, uh, right then," Spike said awkwardly, getting up. He walked to the line of shadow before stopping, probably realizing that he couldn't leave the alley without going into the sunlight.

"That's okay," Buffy replied, seeing his dilemma. "I can be alone with you here."

"Thanks ever so," Spike said with a rueful smile, looking back at her.

"Right," Buffy said, trying to make it sound like she was okay. There was a moment of silence before someone spoke again.

"Buffy?" Spike asked. "Slayer? Are you all right?"

"I'm here, I'm good," Buffy replied, composing herself.

"Buffy, if you're in… if you're in pain… or if you need anything… or if I can do anything for you…" Spike said, trailing off as he walked towards her.

"You can't," Buffy replied, looking down at her lap sadly.

"Well I haven't been to a hell dimension just of late, but I know a thing or two about torment," Spike replied as he sat next to her on another packing crate. She couldn't let everyone believe the lie she was putting up, and if there was one person who would see through the bullshit anyway, it would definitely be Spike. She decided to tell him, and only him.

"I was happy," Buffy began, still looking down. She could feel the confusion coming off the vampire. He obviously believed she had been in hell as well. "It wasn't perfect, but I was happy there. I had best friends. I had a brother. I had a pain in my ass. I fought, but it was my choice, not my destiny. I was home. And now I'm not. They thought I was in hell, but no. This is hell. It's all hard and bright. Just getting through the next moment and the one after that… knowing what I've lost…"

She had forgotten Spike was there by that time, lost in her own thoughts and feelings as she spoke. Buffy got to her feet, feeling uncomfortable. She walked slowly to the line where the shadow and the sunlight met.

"They can never know. Never," she said, not turning back to look at Spike. She continued walking into the sunlight, once again melancholy about what she had lost due to her friends' selfishness.

XOXOXO

I know, I know, there's a lot of mention of her internal struggle about whether or not she should tell her Sunnydale family where she'd actually been. Reading over it, I can kind of see how it can get annoying, but I really wanted to show how much she misses the place and how resolved she is in the knowledge that she can't go back, so there's no point in telling them

Next chapter, things get interesting. Please let me know what you think, reviews are my crack .


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

In the coming weeks, Buffy's life settled into a somewhat normal routine. Well, as normal as a Slayer's life could be. However, she hadn't really come across something too out of the ordinary. Well, except for the geek trio of Warren, Jonathan and Andrew hiring a demon to help them rob banks and generally being a pain in her ass. It was kind of rare that she was dealing with a human adversary instead of a demon or a vampire, even if these particular humans had technology, magic and a M'Fashnik demon on their side. Then there was Halloween, which was supposed to be quiet, and yet, it wasn't, which really seemed to be the norm around Buffy. Dawn had gotten attacked by a vampire posing as a high school student and Buffy had had to go save her butt. Again.

Every day there was another challenge for Buffy to overcome, and every day she lost a little hope that she would ever see Soul Society again. She hadn't had any of the normal gear on her when she had woken up – Soul Glove, Soul Candy or the cell phone – nor could she find a Shnigami outpost. The Hollow she had seen was little more than an outline, like what she had heard some humans could see if they had a particularly strong ability to see spirits. Her friends still didn't know she had been pulled out of the closest thing to heaven she was going to get; they were all completely clueless. Even Dawn, who saw her the most, couldn't really tell that there was something seriously wrong with Buffy. Well, that had been the case.

Until now. Stupid singing demon.

"_There was no pain_

_No fear no doubt_

'_Til they pulled me out_

_Of heaven_

_So that's my refrain_

_I live in hell_

'_Cause I've been expelled_

_From heaven_

_I think I was in heaven_

_So give me something to sing about_

_Please_

_Give something to sing about…"_

She could see the expressions of horror on everyone's faces, especially Willow's. The redhead had obviously been the ringleader in bringing Buffy back to Sunnydale. She looked desperately at Sweet, who shook his head. Flipping off the stage, Buffy started to dance. Maybe she'd finally find the escape she wanted. She'd been back for less than two months and she already wanted to go back. This life wasn't what she wanted for herself anymore, and she didn't think she could survive it. Smelling the smoke and feeling the heat build up in her feet, Buffy braced herself for the burning death awaiting her.

Suddenly, she stopped spinning, stopped dancing. She was held still by a strong pair of hands and she thought maybe, maybe, Ikkaku, Iba or Yumichika had come to find her. Then she heard the voice singing, and knew it couldn't be them.

"_Life's not a song_

_Life isn't bliss_

_Life is just this_

_It's living_

_You'll get along_

_The pain that you feel_

_Only can heal_

_By living_

_You have to go on living_

_So that one of us is living."_

Buffy and Spike stared at each other silently, lost in each other's eyes until a bright light shined across the room. Everyone's attention was drawn to the set of paper Japanese sliding doors materialized out of nowhere. They slid open, allowing two men to walk into the room before the doors closed again. Buffy blinked a few times, wondering if she was hallucinating. Judging by everyone's reactions, she surmised that she wasn't.

"Heaven?" Ikkaku asked. "I dunno about that. Eleventh division wasn't exactly paradise there, Buffy."

"Be quiet, Ikkaku," Yumichika hissed.

"Now, that was a show stopping number," the demon said. "Not quite the fireworks I was looking for."

"Get out of here," Willow said firmly.

"Mm, I smell power," Sweet said before standing. "I guess the little missus and I should be on our way." 

"That's never going to happen," Giles said protectively as Dawn backed away, sitting down again. 

"I don't make the rules," Sweet said with a chuckle. "She summoned me."

"I so did not," Dawn retorted. She turned to the others. "He keeps saying that."

"You have my talisman on, sweet thing," Sweet reasoned, moving to touch the necklace Dawn was wearing. She cringed in fear, cowering slightly.

"Oh, but, no, I, I, um, uh, this, at, at the Magic Box, on the floor, I was, I was cleaning, and I ... forgot ... but ... I didn't summon anything," Dawn said nervously. 

"Well now, that's a twist," said Sweet. 

"If it was in the shop ... then one of us probably..." Giles said before trailing off.

Everyone looked at each other, wondering who the culprit was, the two new guests at the back of the room forgotten for the time being. Slowly, Xander raised his hand.

"Xander?" Anya exclaimed in shock. 

"Well, I didn't know what was gonna happen! I just thought there were gonna be dances and songs," Xander defended himself before turning to Anya. "I just wanted to make sure we'd... we'd work out. Get a happy ending."

"I think everything worked out just fine," said Sweet with a chuckle. 

"Does this mean that I have to... be your queen?" Xander asked with a gulp. Anya looked apprehensive. 

"It's tempting," Sweet said, considering his options. "But I think we'll waive that clause just this once."

Everyone watched Sweet to make sure he didn't do anything as Xander sagged in relief.

"Big smiles everyone, you beat the bad guy!" Sweet said with a spin as the music started up again for one last song.

"_What a lot of fun  
You guys have been real swell  
And there's not a one  
Who can say this ended well  
All those secrets you've been concealing  
Say you're happy now,  
Once more with feeling._

_Now I gotta run  
See you all... _

_...in heeeeeeell!"_

He turned into a ball of light, swirling around everyone's heads, including the two newcomers, before flying off, leaving a sparkly trail behind him. Everyone was silent for a moment as the last notes of Sweet's final song resonated through the room. Finally, there was movement and noise in the form of clapping.

"I gotta say Buffy, when you said your old life was interesting, you weren't kidding," Ikkaku said with a grin as he walked towards Buffy and her friends.

"You've been holding out on us, little sister," Yumichika piped up as he followed Ikkaku. "You didn't say anything about demons that could make an entire town break into a Broadway musical."

"Uh, that was a one-off thing," Buffy replied, shifting her weight from one foot to the other uncomfortably, idly wondering how Yumichika would know about Broadway. She removed herself from Spike's personal space and surveyed her friends' reactions. Nope, she definitely wasn't hallucinating; they were all looking at the two Shinigami rapidly approaching. Except… they didn't look like Shinigami. They were dressed in regular, modern, Western clothes, Yumichika obviously taking more pride in his appearance than Ikkaku did, and since the others could see them Buffy could only assume that they were using gigais.

"How… what…" Buffy began, speechless.

"Hey, look at that Yumichika!" Ikkaku said gleefully. "We've made her speechless. I didn't think that was possible."

"Ikkaku, do me a huge favour," Buffy said, snapping out of her stupor as she began walking to meet them halfway.

"Depends on the favour," Ikkaku retorted.

"Shut the hell up before I'm forced to hit you," Buffy said as she reached them. Ikkaku grinned, but no smart ass remark came from him this time.

She stood in front of them for a few moments, staring at them. She reached up and held Yumichika's cheek, as if she were afraid he would disappear. He smiled reassuringly at her as she moved her hand and ran her fingers through his chin-length dark hair.

"Your hair's softer," she remarked softly. "Did you do something different to it?"

"Yeah, I stole your shampoo before you left," Yumichika replied with a grin, causing Buffy to smack him. "Hey, violent much?"

"Eleventh division here, known for violence," Buffy reminded him.

"Former eleventh division," Ikkaku said with a cough.

"Po-tay-to, po-tah-to," Buffy replied with a shrug. "Besides, I may have been transferred, but you know I could still kick your ass."

"We haven't even been here for five minutes and you're already challenging him to a fight?" Yumichika asked. "Transferring you out was supposed to help get rid of those violent tendencies."

"You can take the girl out of the division, but you can't take the division out of the girl," Buffy replied with a shrug. "Besides, I'm still so mad at you two for doing that. I shouldn't even be talking to you right now."

A cough sounded from behind Buffy and she turned, looking sheepish. She'd completely forgotten about the others there, getting caught up in the fact that Yumichika and Ikkaku were here, with her. It meant that her time in Soul Society hadn't been some wonderful dream.

"Uh Buffy?" Xander asked, breaking the silence. "You know these guys?"

"Um yeah," Buffy replied.

"Well are you going to introduce them to everyone or are you just going to let us guess as to how you know them?" Anya asked. Buffy resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"Come on guys, it's time for you to meet people," Buffy said with a sigh, grabbing each male by the hand and leading them to her other friends. It wasn't something she had foreseen happening; after all, her two different families were from completely different planes of existence and shouldn't have had a chance to meet. Then again, she shouldn't have been able to come back to Sunnydale, in her old body, so it could, technically be possible.

"Okay guys, I'm only going to do this once. You're on your own after this," Buffy said before she began pointing and introducing people. "Ikkaku, Yumichika, that's Giles, Anya, Willow, Tara, Xander and my little sister Dawn. Everyone, this is Ikkaku Madarame and Yumichika Ayasegawa. Sunnydale family, meet Soul Society family."

"Soul Society?" Anya asked. "You were in Soul Society, and not Hell?"

"You know Soul Society?" Buffy asked, slightly surprised. She probably shouldn't have been; after all, Anya was technically eleven-hundred years old and knew a hell of a lot more about the world and different dimensions.

"I know of it," Anya replied. "I've never been, but I've heard it's a nice place. So, you were there?"

"Yeah," Buffy replied with a sigh. "I got dropped there unceremoniously, challenged Ikkaku to a fight, nearly got killed and ended up with these two idiots as my best friends."

"Ahem," Yumichika cleared his throat.

"Yeah?" Buffy asked.

"I think one of us is more than just your best friend, Buffy," Yumichika replied.

"Oh yeah, this guy kind of adopted me as his kid sister," Buffy replied, pointing at Yumichika. He preened at the attention, drawing himself up to his full height and brushing off some imperceptible hairs from his shirt. "I took his last name too, made it easier when we registered for school."

"H-how long were you gone?" Willow asked, chewing on her lip apprehensively.

"Oh God, I can't even remember," Buffy replied. "Yumi?"

"Well, we graduated from the academy fifty-three years ago… so fifty-five?" Yumichika suggested, looking off into space thoughtfully before nodding decisively. "Yes, I believe it's been fifty-five years since the prettiest girl in Soul Society became the friend of the prettiest boy in Soul Society."

"And what about the bald guy?" Xander asked.

"I'm not bald!" Ikkaku protested. "I shave my head because I like the look of it."

"And if you keep telling yourself that, maybe one day everyone else will believe it," Buffy placated him, resisting the urge to reach up and pat him on the head. She turned her attention back to Xander. "I met Ikkaku shortly before I met Yumichika. I'd seen him kill someone because he lost a fight, challenged him, fully expecting to beat him and he kinda sorta almost but didn't… kill me?"

"And you let him go near you again?" Spike asked, concerned.

"He hasn't attacked me since," Buffy replied. "At least, not unprovoked and without an intention to kill. Yumichika saved my life. He'd been living with Ikkaku since who knows how long. Even when we were at the academy, they were room mates, along with a couple of other guys."

"What academy are you talking about?" Tara asked, curious.

"The Shinigami academy," Buffy replied. Anya stared at her.

"You're a Shinigami?" she asked.

"Supposed to be," Buffy replied.

"What do you mean, supposed to be?" Yumichika asked, curious.

"I haven't been able to use my powers since I came back," Buffy replied. Willow looked guilty. "And it might not be entirely Willow's fault. Kurotsuchi injected me with something…"

"And you let him?" Ikkaku exclaimed. "Jeez, I knew you were dumb, but I didn't think you were that dumb. Don't you remember what he did to you?"

"Stop it!"

Everyone's attention was directed to the stage, where Dawn still stood. She glared at Ikkaku with all of the anger she could muster. It wasn't a Buffy death glare, but it was close.

"Dawnie?" Buffy asked, stunned and a little curious.

"Don't talk to my sister like that," she said, getting down from the stage and walking so that she was standing next to her sister.

"Is this Dawn?" Yumichika asked, looking at her in wonder. "I've wanted to meet you since Buffy told me about you. I'm Yumichika Ayasegawa, but you can call me Yumi if you like. Our sister seems fond of doing that."

"She's my sister," Dawn said firmly with a glare. "Not yours."

She turned and left, stomping out of the building. Buffy sighed, watching her go.

"I should probably go and talk to her," she said.

"Can't you let her cool off on her own?" Yumichika asked.

"Have you forgotten everything I told you about Sunnydale?" Buffy asked. "It's not safe at night. It's night. Besides, I don't want her to go out and do anything that'll get her killed. I'll go and find her and you guys should head back to the house. Try not to tell any embarrassing stories about me, especially you two."

She pointed at Yumichika and Ikkaku; obviously, they had far more embarrassing stories about her, having known her for over five decades. They both looked at her innocently, causing her to sigh and roll her eyes before turning and leaving.

Dawn hadn't gone very far by the time Buffy caught up to her. It looked like she had been heading towards the house. Good, Buffy thought.

"Dawn!" she exclaimed, getting the younger girl's attention.

"What do you want?" she asked with a glare. "Why aren't you with your brother, catching up?"

"Dawn, what's wrong?" Buffy asked, although she was pretty sure she could guess what was up.

"You forgot about me, you forgot about us," Dawn said, her eyes filling with tears. "You went and got yourself a shiny new family while we were all here mourning you."

"Is that what this is about?" Buffy asked. "Oh Dawnie, I could never forget about everyone here, especially you. Every single day I thought about you guys, about how much my new friends would never compare with everyone here in Sunnydale."

"You sure have a funny way of showing it," Dawn retorted sourly.

"I didn't think I'd ever be able to come back," Buffy explained. "I was dead and by the time I had really began to accept it, really accept it, several years had gone by. I'd made a decent life for myself in Soul Society, but Yumichika and even Ikkaku wouldn't ever let me forget about Sunnydale. Of course, Cue Ball only asked to hear stories so that he could laugh at me and tell me I was making stuff up. At least, that was his cover. But Yumichika… Yumichika wanted to hear all about Sunnydale, and especially you."

"Why me?" Dawn asked, her curiosity piqued.

"You'll have to ask him that, because he never told me why," Buffy replied. "But I think it's because he wanted to know about the person I loved so much that I would die for her. He said that if he couldn't meet you, at least he could hear everything about you. I think he wanted to adopt you as his kid sister too, kind of a package deal thing."

"Oh," Dawn said, her voice small. They were silent for a moment before Dawn spoke again. "So, are you still Buffy Summers, or are you Buffy whatever-his-name-is?"

"While I'm here, on this plane of existence, I'm Buffy Summers. No use in changing my paperwork any more than it already has been," Buffy replied. "But in Soul Society, I'm known as Buffy Ayasegawa. I always have been, always will be. Ikkaku will probably still call me Ayasegawa when he's annoyed with me, although he usually sticks with Buffy. Not that it matters much anyway, I don't think I'll be going back anytime soon. So, do you want to head home, or do you want to keep walking and talking?"

"I-I think going home would be a good idea," Dawn agreed. "It's been a long day, yeah?"

"I doubt it's over yet," Buffy replied. "Ikkaku's probably at the house now, completely ruining my reputation by telling everyone embarrassing stories about me."

"I doubt he'd be able to ruin your reputation around here with everyone," Dawn reasoned.

"He's got fifty-five years of embarrassing stories to work with, I'm sure he'll find something," Buffy replied with a grimace. "We've been through everything together, good and bad."

"Well, you look good for your age," Dawn said with a smile.

"Not as good as Anya, but I'm not doing too shabby," Buffy joked with a hint of a smile. "Come on, let's go. Knowing Ikkaku, he's probably already eaten us out of house and home. He did that when I was living with Yumichika and I doubt his manners have gotten any better."

"You and him lived together?" Dawn asked. "Isn't that kind of weird?"

"We had our own bedrooms, Dawnie," Buffy replied as they started walking back to the house together. "Since I arrived in Soul Society, it had always been me, Yumichika and Ikkaku. When they got kicked out of the academy and I left and were accepted into the eleventh division, it was only natural that we continued to stick together. Now that I think of it, it would have probably been easier if Ikkaku and Yumichika had lived in the same apartment and I got the one bedroom next door, but it doesn't really matter now."

"Why not?" Dawn replied.

"Well, besides the fact that I think I may have lost my Shinigami powers when I was brought back and won't be able to go back to Soul Society without them, I got transferred shortly before I was assigned to a mission in the real world. A mission to Sunnydale."

"So… it wasn't Willow's spell that brought you back," Dawn said reasonably.

"It's entirely possible," Buffy replied with a shrug. "I'll have to ask Yumi and Kakku if they know anything about it, and if I can get a hold of Kurotsuchi I'll ask him what the hell he injected me with. And by ask, I mean threaten him with bodily harm if he doesn't tell me what he did to me."

"You don't like that Kurotsuchi guy, do you?" Dawn asked as they walked up the path leading to their front door.

"Nope, and I really don't want to talk about it," Buffy replied with a grimace. "It'll make me get violent."

"Okay then, no asking about the Kurotsuchi guy," Dawn noted as she unlocked the front door. They entered the house only to be practically accosted by Xander, Anya, Willow and Tara.

"Why didn't you tell us where you were?" Willow asked.

"Would it have made any difference?" Buffy retorted. "You would have known after the fact. I doubt that spell was reversible. Besides, I'm here now, so how about you enjoy the fact that you brought me back and be done with it, 'kay?"

"But Buffy…" Willow began, only to be silenced by a look from Buffy.

"So, where are Yumichika and Ikkaku?" Buffy asked.

"They got a call on their rather girly phone and said they had to go," Anya replied. "Only… they kinda sorta didn't actually go. They ate some candy and then misty-ish forms that looked like them rose from their bodies, and then their personalities changed."

"Oh no," Buffy said with a groan.

"What?" Xander asked.

"They used Soul Candy," Buffy replied. At everyone's confused expressions, she sighed and launched into an explanation. "Soul Candy, when eaten, forces a person's soul out of their body and replaces it with an artificial soul. When used by a Shinigami, it forces the Shinigami out of their gigai so that they are in soul form and can perform their duties."

"So right now… your friends are souls, and there's something different in their bodies?" Tara asked.

"That's about right. Soul Candy isn't evil, I promise," Buffy said quickly. "It just keeps more irresponsible Shinigami from leaving comatose bodies lying around when a hollow attacks."

"Buffy-chaaaan!"

"Oh no," Buffy said with another groan as Yumichika and Ikkaku – well, their gigais currently affected by Soul Candies – came barrelling into the room. They both tackled her, hugging her tightly.

"Buffy-chan, tell me you like me more," Yumichika said.

"Nuh-uh, she likes me more!" Ikkaku exclaimed.

"Both of you get off of me before I kick your asses!" Buffy exclaimed, throwing the bodies off of her.

"Buffy-chan's so mean to us," Yumichika said with a pout before turning and walking off, climbing up the stairs. Ikkaku huffed and got up, following Yumichika.

"They're so dead when they get back," Buffy grumbled. "They should have just used the Soul Glove or something. Although, artificial souls might be the way to go around here, because you never know what kind of beastie will try and sneak into a soulless vessel."

"So, Buff, do you know how long your friends are going to be staying here?" Xander asked as they all went into the living room, taking seats as they did so.

"No idea," Buffy replied with a shrug. "I didn't even know they were on their way or anything. Kind of hard when I lost all contact with Soul Society when I got here."

"Buffy, I'm so sorry," Willow said. "If I'd known…"

"But you didn't. No apologies necessary, you were doing what you thought was right," Buffy replied. "And it might not have been all you. I was headed in this direction anyway and Kurotsuchi, the head of the Research and Development division, gave me some stuff and I have no idea what it was supposed to do. He said it was going to just monitor my actions while I was here, but for all I know it could have been microscopic explosives or something."

"And you let him do that to you, even though you weren't sure what was going to happen?" Giles asked. "My word child, do you have no sense of self-preservation?"

"Shinigami are a lot tougher than regular humans," Buffy replied. "And besides, my captain, one of the oldest and most trusted and respected captains in the Gotei 13, said he would personally make sure that Kurotsuchi paid dearly if what he gave me had any adverse effects."

"Can you tell us anything else about your life in Soul Society?" Dawn asked. "I mean, if you want to. If it'll be too hard for you to talk about it, it's okay."

"Nah, I think it'll make it easier if I talk about it," Buffy replied. She took a deep breath, wondering where to start. May as well start from the beginning, she thought. So she did, from the very first day she met Yumichika and Ikkaku and continued on, describing everything she had seen and experienced, glossing over the horrible bits. They didn't need to know about that, not just yet. Besides, Yumichika and Ikkaku, when they got back, would probably fill them in on the bad parts anyway.

It was very late before Buffy decided to stop. Dawn had fallen asleep, leaning heavily against her, and everyone else looked attentive and exhausted.

"And I think I'm going to leave that there," Buffy said, having just finished talking about the time she had had to tie up Ikkaku to keep him from kicking Iba's ass when they had first started dating. "Next up on Buffy's embarrassing life, stories about how I nearly blew myself up countless times."

"You blew yourself up?" asked Tara, anxious.

"I said almost," Buffy replied. "In a controlled setting and with medical professionals nearby. Anyway, I'm beat. Better get Dawn to bed before heading off myself."

"What about your friends?" Willow asked.

"They'll find their way in, they always do," Buffy replied. "Spirits, you know. Can walk through walls and all that if needed, although I gotta say, it's not all that comfortable."

"Well, okay," Willow said, uncomfortable.

"If it makes you feel better, I can sit on the roof and wait for them to come back after I get Dawn into bed," Buffy replied with a shrug. "They'll probably try and climb in one of the bedroom windows anyway, so I should probably make sure that it's mine they climb into."

"Is that safe?" Tara asked.

"Safe enough," Buffy replied with a shrug. "I used to sit on rooftops all the time back in Seiretei. Now, I'm gonna go and put Dawnie to bed before I go and sit on the roof and wait for those two idiots to come back. I've got a bone to pick with them, anyway. Night all."

Buffy prodded Dawn awake as everyone else dispersed, going to their rooms or heading to their homes. After putting Dawn to bed and making sure she was tucked in and asleep again, Buffy climbed out of her bedroom window and headed for the roof in what looked like was going to be a long night.

XOXOXO

This is the last episode-based chapter for a while… I think. There are a few I want to put in here, but from here on out things are going to branch out a fair amount from canon.

As always, reviews are appreciated. Thanks for reading, and Merry Christmas!


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Two hours later, Buffy was still sitting on the roof. She shivered slightly; the temperature had dropped considerably from earlier in the afternoon. _Should have brought a jacket out with me_, she thought as she crossed her arms over her chest and curled up to conserve body heat.

The two hours on the roof had given Buffy a chance to think without any interruptions. She wondered what Ikkaku and Yumichika were doing there, in Sunnydale; she hadn't had a chance to get that information out of them before they had run off Hollow hunting. That is, if that was what they were really doing. She wouldn't put it past them to try to escape the questions and curious looks. _Leave their gigais for me to look after them,_ Buffy thought. _Use the Soul Candy that annoys me the most… they're so going to hear about this when they get back._

"Why do you look so serious, little sister?"

Buffy jumped slightly, completely unaware that someone had snuck up behind her. She cursed to herself twice; first at her Slayer hearing for not being able to pick up on someone behind her, and second at her Shinigami powers for being unable to pick up on their reiatsu.

"Lots on my mind," Buffy replied, turning. Behind her were both Yumichika and Ikkaku, dressed in their familiar Shinigami garb, including their usual customizations, Ikkaku with no socks and Yumichika with that ridiculous collar. Buffy shouldn't talk; she wore a blue scarf around her neck while in uniform, but still. Yumichika's collar had to be the ugliest shade of orange she'd ever seen.

"What's the matter, little Buffy-chan?" Yumichika asked as he sat down next to her. She stared at him for a moment; he rarely, if ever, called her Buffy-chan. It was only used when she was extremely upset; the endearment seemed to calm her a little when it was used.

"Oh, I don't know," Buffy replied as Ikkaku sat on her other side. "Let's see what's gone on since I left, shall we? One, my friends did a spell to bring me back to life because they thought I was in Hell. Two, I haven't been able to use my Shinigami powers since I got back. And three, you two show up without any warning when I'm finally beginning to believe that the last fifty some-odd years with you guys have been some strange, extended dream."

"We're the men of your dreams?" Ikkaku asked with a triumphant smirk.

"Okay, maybe my nightmares," Buffy retorted. Ikkaku stuck his tongue out at her. "Oh, that's real mature. Anyway, what the hell are you guys doing here? Not that I'm not thrilled, because I am, but still."

"Kurotsuchi finally let it slip that he, uh, kinda lost you," Yumichika replied nervously.

"He what?" Buffy practically shrieked.

"He lost you, as in he completely lost track of you," Ikkaku replied. "We got sent after you to make sure you were doing okay. By the way, where are our gigais?"

"Inside, somewhere," Buffy replied with a shrug, waving in the general direction of the house. "They both tried to attack me with hugs and probably kisses before I sent them off. I swear, you guys pick the most annoying artificial souls because they only seem to try and molest me!"

"Well, maybe those artificial souls know something about us that we don't," Yumichika said thoughtfully.

"Yes, of course, you both have an uncontrollable attraction to me and can't wait to jump my bones," Buffy deadpanned. "Next time if you get a call and you're at the house, use the damn Soul Glove. There's usually someone around here to watch the gigais."

"Good to know," Ikkaku said.

"Okay, so now that you're here, what's the plan?" Buffy asked.

"Well, we're sort of supposed to bring you back to Seiretei," Yumichika replied.

"Well, that'll be kind of hard," Buffy retorted with a snort.

"Why's that?" Ikkaku asked.

"Kind of can't use my Shinigami powers anymore," Buffy replied.

"Well, you can still see us, so you can't have lost all of them," Yumichika reasoned. He reached into his robes and extracted a candy dispenser. "Here, have a Soul Candy."

"I hate these things," Buffy muttered as she popped the little green ball into her mouth. And then promptly spit it out.

"You're supposed to swallow it," Ikkaku said dryly.

"I did," Buffy replied, scowling at him. "It didn't go down."

"Well, let's try this," Ikkaku said, pulling out a red glove with a skull emblazoned on the back. He put it on before slapping her on the back. Nothing.

"Well, this is different," Yumichika said. "I've never seen anything like it."

"Can I say I told you so yet?" Buffy asked with a pout. This was really distressing; she'd been a Shinigami so long that she felt a little lost without her abilities. And what about her Zanpakuto? It was like an extension of herself, just like it should be; she had felt almost naked without it strapped to her back. "What are we going to do?"

"What are _we_ going to do?" Ikkaku asked. "Don't you mean what are _you_ going to do? Because I don't see me having a problem here."

"Ikkaku, I don't think that's a good idea," Yumichika said carefully.

Buffy stiffened, her eyes narrowing. She could feel the burn of tears behind her eyes, but she wasn't going to cry. Not here, not now, not in front of him. Although, kicking his ass seemed to be a good idea right about now.

"If you're not going to help, go home," Buffy said quietly.

"I just don't see how this is my… ack…" Ikkaku began, but was cut off by Buffy's hand on his throat as she slammed him down onto the roof. Thankfully, it didn't look like there was any damage done to the roof; she didn't really have the money to fix it right now.

"I said, if you're not going to help, go the hell home," she said, her voice dangerously quiet. She squeezed once before releasing him, scooting away so that she wouldn't be temped to partake in more violence. Ikkaku sat up, rubbing his throat.

"Buffy, are you all right?" Yumichika asked.

"I'm going to bed," she said, getting up. "Yumichika, you can sleep on the couch in the living room or wherever you're most comfortable as long as there isn't someone else sleeping there when you're ready until we can find something a little more permanent. Madarame, you… you can just go home. Take your gigai with you when you go because I sure as hell don't want it hanging around here."

She walked across the roof until she got to her window, swinging herself inside. Both gigais were laying on the floor, asleep. Closing the window so that it was only open a crack, she flopped onto the bed, laying on her side so that her back was to the open window. Then, and only then, did the tears flow.

Buffy didn't know why Ikkaku's words affected her so much, even after all of these years. She didn't know why she wasted her time on him in most cases; he was an insensitive jerk just waiting for a smack down most of the time. But then… but then he'd do something so sweet, and so amazing, that she'd forget all of the little jerky things he did. The asshole moments had gotten fewer and further between as they had aged and were very infrequent now, to where most of the time she could go weeks or even months without feeling the urge to kick his ass because of something he had said or done. And even if she did have the urge to kick his ass, he usually had to do something really horrendous.

Oh crap, Buffy thought with a groan. I've gone and fallen in love with the jerk.

"Buffy?" Yumichika asked, coming in through the window. The only answer he got was a sniffle. She heard him moving around the bedroom before she heard him getting back into his gigai. She felt rather than heard him sit next to her on the bed. "Buffy, are you going to be all right?"

"No, I'm not going to be freaking all right," Buffy growled, rolling over so that she was facing Yumichika.

"He has no filter between his brain and his mouth, you know that by now," Yumichika said before laying down next to her, laying on his side so that he was facing her.

"You should stop making excuses for him," Buffy retorted. "Why in the world did he come all of this way if he wasn't going to help? And don't you dare say he was just joking around with me, you've been using that one for years and I'm not buying it anymore."

"You and I both know that Ikkaku does not deal with emotions in general very well at all," Yumichika reasoned. "I think that you losing your powers scared him. He doesn't want to lose you, and neither do I."

"You'd think that would change after five freaking decades, eh?" Buffy asked, smiling slightly. "I mean, the not dealing with his emotions well. He completely overreacts about the little things, and brushes off the big things. If he'd switch his reactions around, he wouldn't be acting like a crazy person."

"Well, Ikkaku's an old man and set in his ways," Yumichika said with a shrug.

"Ikkaku, old? Please," Buffy said with a snort. "The grumpy old man, is an old man. Ukitake and Kyoraku are more likely to be called old men than he is. Anya's older than him. Hell, I have an ex boyfriend older than him! And if Ikkaku's an old man, what does that make you? Because you have to be at least as old as he is."

"I'm not old, I just get better with age," Yumichika said with a sniff. Buffy snorted in laughter again. "There's the smiling Buffy-chan I missed so much. You do know Ikkaku threatened to beat the crap out of Kurotsuchi when he found out that you'd been lost, right?"

"That doesn't mean anything," Buffy replied. Yumichika arched an eyebrow. "What? Okay, maybe it does mean something. But it doesn't mean he cares about me. He's just making sure I'm keeping the promise I made him before I left. Besides, you and I both know he lives for violence. There's a good reason why he and the captain get along so well."

"You saw him before you left?" Yumichika asked with a pout. "How come you didn't come and say good bye to me? I'm your brother after all!"

"I was mad at you," Buffy replied. "I'm _still_ mad at you. I didn't go and see him, I ran into him, and I mean I literally crashed into him, when I was on my way to the Senkaimon Gate. He made me promise to be careful and come home in one piece."

"Did anything else happen?" Yumichika asked, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Mind out of the gutter, Yumichika," Buffy said, reaching over and smacking him on the back of the head. "Don't make me push you off this bed."

"Oh, you wouldn't do that to me," Yumichika said with a pout. "You wouldn't want the people in this house to think you're having raunchy, wild sex with me because you're making so much noise."

Buffy scowled before shoving him, making him topple off the bed with a loud thud. She snickered at the glare he sent her from the floor; it had little more effect than an annoyed kitten that got caught in the rain because he rarely pulled out his truly angry face.

"That wasn't nice," he grumbled, getting up off the floor and flopping back down onto the bed.

"Never said I was nice," Buffy replied, poking him in the ribs. "I've missed you."

"Missed you too," Yumichika said, stifling a yawn. "You're not really going to make me sleep on the couch, are you?"

"I said you could sleep anywhere you wanted as long as no one else was sleeping there," Buffy replied, getting off of the bed. She stepped over the Ikkaku gigai to her dresser, pulling out a pair of pyjamas from one of the drawers. "I'm gonna go get changed, be back in a couple of minutes."

She left the room, closing the door behind her before walking quickly and quietly down the hallway to the bathroom at the end of the hall. She changed, washed her face and brushed her hair out and was out of the bathroom and back into her room within a few minutes.

"I think that's the fastest you've ever been in and out of the bathroom," Yumichika remarked as the bedroom door closed with a click.

"Shush you," Buffy replied, pointing at him. "You stay on your side of the bed and don't you dare steal the blankets or I'm kicking you out."

"Sir, yes sir!" Yumichika said with a mock salute before he rolled over, laying on his side as close to the edge of the bed as possible. She smiled at him and crawled into bed, laying as close to the edge on her side of the bed as possible.

It took only a few moments before the room was filled with their quiet snores.

XOXOXO

The next morning, Buffy awoke to an empty room; even the Ikkaku gigai was gone. Part of her was happy about that, another not so much. _Maybe he really had gone home,_ she thought, feeling a little sad about that revelation. Stretching and blinking the sleep out of her eyes, Buffy got out of bed and padded out, making her way down the stairs to see who else was up.

"You're cooking again," Buffy said happily when she saw who was at the stove. She smiled at Yumichika before grabbing a glass of orange juice and heading into the dining room.

"Uh Buffy, I don't think that's a good idea…" Yumichika said quickly, but he wasn't quick enough. She couldn't miss the sunshine bouncing off the bald head of the man sitting at the dining room table.

"What the hell are you still doing here?" Buffy asked, gritting her teeth. "Didn't I tell you to go home?"

"You told me to go home if I wasn't going to help," Ikkaku replied, not looking up from the newspaper. "Well, guess what girlie? I'm gonna help."

"What happened to this being my problem, not yours?" Buffy retorted, sitting across from him at the table.

"Well, I knew that you'd make it my problem eventually, so I thought I'd save you the trouble," Ikkaku replied with a smirk.

"Jerk," Buffy retorted, nudging his leg under the table with her foot.

"Dumb blonde."

"Poophead."

"Silly girl."

"Baldy."

"Brat."

"Moron."

"You know, the guy in the kitchen promised us a fight, and I'm not seeing any fighting," Willow said, poking her head into the dining room. "Not complaining or anything."

"Well, Ikkaku can behave when he wants to," Buffy replied. "Right, Ikkaku?"

"Actually, the guy in the kitchen said that you start most of the fights," Dawn piped up, carrying a plate of pancakes into the dining room.

"I'm so gonna beat him up," Buffy grumbled. "But after breakfast."

"Thought I'd try something different," Yumichika said as he walked into the room, carrying a jug of syrup and a small plate of butter. The rest of the table had already been set when Buffy had sat down "Never tried pancakes before but I found a recipe in one of the books in the kitchen."

"We had food in the house?" Buffy asked. Things had been getting kind of lean in the Summers household lately, and she was surprised there was still something in the house.

"Not a lot, but some," Yumichika said, sitting down next to Ikkaku. Dawn sat next to Buffy, across from Yumichika, and Tara and Willow sat at either end of the table.

"Okay, there's no way you can be related to me and Buffy," Dawn said as she took a bite of the pancakes. Buffy hid her smile. Yumichika's cooking was enough to melt even the coldest hearts, and she was rather happy that her younger sister was warming up a bit to Yumichika. "But that doesn't mean I like you, guy with the weird name."

"It's Yumichika," Yumichika said with a small smile.

"Yeah, whatever," Dawn replied dismissively, stuffing another piece of pancake into her mouth.

"Dawn!" Buffy exclaimed, a little horrified at how her little sister was treating her self-proclaimed big brother. The younger girl might not particularly like Yumichika, the least she could be was civil towards him.

"It's okay, Buffy-chan," Yumichika soothed. Again with the Buffy-chan; she'd have to ask him what was up with that. Maybe Ikkaku knew. She made a mental note to ask one of them about it. "In fact, if you don't mind, I'd like to borrow Dawn for a bit after breakfast. Just to talk, I promise."

"As long as Dawnie's okay with that," Buffy replied. Willow, Dawn and Tara looked at her in surprise. "Yumichika isn't going to kidnap her or anything. He knows I'll beat the crap out of him if he does."

"Buffy's right, I only wish to talk to Dawn," Yumichika said before turning to Dawn herself. "Would you like to take a walk with me after breakfast, Dawn?"

"Doesn't look like I have much of a choice," Dawn grumbled.

"You always have a choice, Dawn," Yumichika said calmly.

"Fine, I'll go for a walk with you," Dawn said grudgingly. "But I'm not gonna like it."

"I'm not saying you have to," Yumichika replied. "I'm just glad you're willing to talk with me."

"Yeah, yeah," Dawn grumbled.

Buffy's smile fell a little at the exchange between her siblings. Yumichika was trying and Dawn was shooting him down. She really hoped that the two of them could at least get along and that Dawn would get used to the idea that there was a very real possibility that she would have to share her with someone else.

Her distress must have shown on her face, because she felt something nudge her leg underneath the table. She looked up to see Ikkaku looking at her, a concerned expression on his face. Buffy shook her head and mouthed 'later'; this definitely was not something she could discuss at the breakfast table with everyone watching.

"So, y-you three have known each other for a while?" Tara asked.

"Since the first day Buffy arrived," Yumichika replied carefully. Buffy really hoped they didn't go too in depth into her past; while she had told some stories about Seiretei, she hadn't really gone too far into everything. "We've stuck together ever since, deciding to go to the academy together, classes together… hell, we even got almost kicked out together!"

"You got kicked out?" Willow asked, worried.

"Not exactly, he said almost" Buffy clarified. "They were given an ultimatum. Find a division that would take them or be forced to leave Seiretei. I didn't want to be in the academy without them, so I found a rule that said if a student at the academy could find a squad that would take them before graduation, they could bypass the six year graduation requirement. I still don't know why the old man didn't just kick them out outright. Not complaining or anything, but still. "

"Why's that?" Willow asked.

"I don't wanna talk about it," Buffy replied. It was a bit embarrassing now that she had fifty years to meditate on what had happened. They really shouldn't have stormed the twelfth division headquarters when they found out Kurotsuchi had been let out of the Nest of Maggots. The only reason why the old man hadn't kicked them out was because he had known what Kurotsuchi had done. He had probably made the stipulation because he didn't think there had been a squad that would take on two people who would attack a seated officer.

He hadn't considered Kenpachi Zaraki, unfortunately for him and fortunately for them.

Glances at Yumichika and Ikkaku yielded no hints. _Good_, Buffy thought. _We're probably gonna have to talk about what is acceptable to talk about and what isn't._

The remainder of the meal passed in awkward silence, the only noises were those associated with eating and the only conversation were requests for various items out of someone's reach. After what seemed like forever and a day, the food had been eaten and it was time to clear the dishes.

"I'll get those. Wanna help me, Buffy?" Ikkaku said, surprising both Buffy and Yumichika. They both stared at him as if he had grown a second head. "What? Am I growing hair or something?"

"No, it's just that I've never seen you offer to clear the dishes, that's all," Buffy replied, shaking her head in disbelief as she began collecting the dishes.

"I can be a decent guest when I want to be," Ikkaku replied with a shrug.

"News to me," Buffy grumbled.

"I never really considered myself a guest in your home," Ikkaku retorted. "We're practically family, your stuff is my stuff and my stuff is my stuff."

"What do I get out of this deal?" Buffy asked, carrying dishes into the kitchen.

"You get to admire my manly manliness," Ikkaku replied, striking a ridiculous pose.

"Uh… huh," Buffy said slowly, giving him a once over before poking him in the ribs. "Looking really manly there in your pink shirt."

"It's red, not pink," Ikkaku retorted, rubbing his side.

"It's a really girly red then," Buffy shot back. She turned on the faucet, filling up the sink with water as she began loading the dishes into the sink.

"You did not just call me a girl," Ikkaku said with a scowl.

"I didn't," Buffy replied. "I said your shirt was girly."

"But the rest of me is manly, right?" Ikkaku asked as he took a position next her, grabbed a clean towel and began drying the dishes.

"You're so cute when you're insecure," Buffy said affectionately, flicking some water at him.

"I'm not cute," Ikkaku grumbled.

"You're right, you're not," Buffy replied. Ikkaku puffed up with pride, a pleased smirk on his face. "You're ass ugly and I wouldn't touch you with a ten foot pole if you paid me."

"Oh, you're so gonna get it," Ikkaku said, grabbing a sponge and dunking in the sink of soapy water before flinging the sponge at Buffy, drenching her entire shirtfront when it hit her. Thankfully, she was wearing a dark shirt.

"You… you… butthole!" Buffy shrieked, grabbing another sponge and copying Ikkaku, dunking it in the sink before squeezing the sponge as she swung her arm around, hitting Ikkaku with a wave of soapy water.

Before long the kitchen was filled with shrieks and laughter as an all out water war broke out in the kitchen. They flung water at each other willy-nilly, getting more and more water on the floor as they did so. As Buffy ran away, shrieking yet again as Ikkaku brandished a sponge at her, she stepped on a particularly large puddle and went flying. She braced herself for the collision with the cold linoleum that was imminent, but it never came. Instead, she was held up and prevented from falling by a pair of strong arms. She looked up and her eyes locked with Ikkaku's worried ones.

"You okay?" he asked, concerned.

"I am now," Buffy replied breathlessly. He hadn't aged a day since she had met him; neither had she. He still had that intense passion for the things he cared about; even after five decades it hadn't waned a bit. If anything, he had gotten more fierce about the things he cared about.

A cough sounded from the doorway, breaking the intense staring contest. Buffy and Ikkaku turned to see Willow and Tara standing there, staring at them.

"Everything o-okay in here?" Tara asked.

"Yep, everything's good," Ikkaku replied, setting Buffy back onto her feet. He didn't let her go, though, keeping a hand on her arm as he set her to rights.

"Just a little water fight that got a little carried away," Buffy piped in. She could feel her wet shirt clinging to her form; she'd have to change and change quickly before the water began to cool. She tried to keep her gaze anywhere but Ikkaku; his shirt had been made of rather thin fabric, and when wet it clung to everything, leaving nothing to the imagination. She'd seen him shirtless before, many times, and each time she blushed without fail. It probably wouldn't have been so bad if she had gotten embarrassed when seeing any man shirtless, but Ikkaku was the only person who made her react like that.

"W-well, if everything's okay, w-we'll leave you to… whatever you were doing," Willow said quickly, grabbing Tara's hand and practically dragging her through the kitchen. Buffy and Ikkaku watched them go, listening as the two women thundered up the stairs before the sound of a door slamming was heard from above.

"What was that about?" Ikkaku asked, curious.

"I don't think you want to know," Buffy replied with a giggle. She only hoped that the two women upstairs would be reasonably quiet.

"I think I do," Ikkaku said, quirking an eyebrow.

"To be honest, I don't know what just happened then, but I'm pretty sure I know what's happening now," Buffy replied with a snicker.

"They're together?" Ikkaku asked.

"Yeah," Buffy replied. "And if you have a problem with it, I don't wanna hear it."

"That's… kinda hot," he said in awe. "Are you and Rangiku like that?"

"No!" Buffy exclaimed, smacking him on the chest with the back of her hand. She ignored the fact that he was still built out of solid muscle, not an ounce of fat on him. She withdrew her hand quickly; she didn't trust herself to not run her hands all over him. "In your dreams. We're just friends, we've always been friends and we're always going to be just friends."

"So, do you have your eye on anyone?" Ikkaku asked. "Depending on who it is, I might not have to kick their ass."

"Because I'm really going to tell you now," Buffy replied with a roll of her eyes. "Not that there's anything to tell, because there's not. And even if there was, I wouldn't tell you anything because hello, ass kickage if I did."

"Buffy?"

"Yeah?"

"You're babbling," Ikkaku said with a smirk.

"Whoops, sorry," Buffy replied sheepishly. "I'm just gonna go and get dressed. I'll be back in a bit."

She turned and rushed out of the kitchen, leaving Ikkaku with the wet, soapy mess. She ran up the stairs, keeping an ear out towards the master bedroom. Silence. Good. If there was quiet, it would keep Ikkaku from getting that annoying smug smirky look on his face.

Buffy sighed as she entered her bedroom, making sure the door was closed and locked behind her. She'd learned from experience that leaving doors open was just begging for trouble and took to closing doors to any room she might be changing in, even if Ikkaku wasn't anywhere near. He'd find a way to figure out when she was changing and try to barge in.

She stripped out of her wet clothes and pulled out a simple red sleeveless shirt and a pair of dark jeans. There was no use in dressing up; with Ikkaku and Yumichika around, she just knew she'd end up getting her clothes dirty anyway.

Slipping on a pair of cute flats that were reasonably easy to get around in, Buffy surveyed her reflection in the mirror one last time. She wrinkled her nose at her hair; it was still pretty damp and hung limply in her face. Grabbing a hair elastic, she quickly put her hair up in a messy bun, having the effect of both looking reasonably cute and keeping her hair out of her face. Multiple skirmishes with many other Shinigami had taught her that hair in the face was a huge disadvantage.

Satisfied with her appearance, Buffy turned and left her bedroom, heading downstairs to face the day. For the first time since she had come back to Sunnydale, she had an actual spring in her step.

XOXOXO

**So, hi. I'm back. Now that "About the Blood" is caught up to this one, both should be updated pretty regularly.**

**As always, feedback is appreciated. Thanks for reading.**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Buffy entered the living room to see Ikkaku standing in the middle of the room, examining the television set. He was pacing in front of it, staring at it, looking behind it occasionally. He had changed his clothes, although Buffy wasn't sure how he had acquired new ones; she hadn't seen any suitcases when he and Yumichika had arrived. Then again, she hadn't been paying attention, either.

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked, stifling a snicker when he jumped.

"I'm just looking at this thing," Ikkaku replied, still examining the television set. "It looks like one of those display screens back in Seiretei, except smaller and less… gooey."

"It's a television," Buffy explained. Ikkaku ceased his examination of the said television and looked at her, his expression urging her to continue. "You sit in front of it and watch other people doing interesting stuff and wait until your brain turns into gelatinous mush. Well, it will if you watch soap operas like Spike does. Come on, sit with me. Our brains can turn into gelatinous mush at the same time."

"Spike's the blond guy, right?" Ikkaku asked as Buffy led him to the sofa. She sat down and patted the spot next to her before grabbing the remote and turning on the television.

"Yeah, why?" Buffy asked, flipping through the channels, trying to find something good.

"I don't like him," Ikkaku said blankly.

"Not very many people do," Buffy replied, finally settling on an old zombie movie. It was a little strange that a zombie movie was on the television relatively early on a Saturday morning, but she definitely wasn't complaining. Maybe it was a special marathon or something.

"I don't like the way he was looking at you," Ikkaku said as he settled down on the comfortable sofa.

"Well, how was he looking at me?" Buffy asked, kicking off her shoes before turning so that she was laying across the length of the couch, her head in Ikkaku's lap.

"Like he wanted to eat you," Ikkaku replied. He looked down at Buffy's position, practically laying on top of him, before poking her in the back of her head with his finger. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"If you want me to move all you have to do is ask," Buffy said. "Now shush, it's getting to the good part."

The two sat in silence as the movie played out in front of them, the only sounds coming from the television set. Ikkaku had taken to stroking her hair and trailing his fingers over her ears and neck periodically, lulling her into a sleepy state. She was asleep before the end of the movie.

It wasn't until someone had come into the house through the front door that Buffy woke up, the sound of the door opening and closing disturbing her light slumber. She blinked a couple of times before looking up, slightly surprised to see Yumichika and Dawn standing over her. Ikkaku was still seated on the couch and Buffy's head was still in his lap.

"It's amazing," Yumichika said in mock awe.

"What's amazing?" Dawn asked, curious.

"They're in the same room, sitting on the same piece of furniture, touching each other, and they're not fighting," he replied. "It's a freaking miracle."

"Oh shut up," Buffy grumbled, tossing a pillow at Yumichika, who caught it easily. She didn't, however, move from her position on the couch. "So, how did your walk go?"

"I'll tell you later," Dawn said. Buffy could see that she didn't want to talk about it in front of their guests and she respected that. She'd just have to get it out of her sister later.

"So, what's everyone up to?" Yumichika asked, plopping down on one of the chairs as Dawn sat down on the floor.

"Me and Buffy were just watching the telly-whatsit," Ikkaku replied with a shrug. "The redhead and the other girl went upstairs to have se…"

"Sensory perception practice," Buffy quickly cut in, shooting a glare at Ikkaku. He smirked in amusement. "At least, that's what I think it was. Didn't get any of the details, but I think it was a kind of magic-y thing."

"Uh huh, sure, I believe you," Dawn said with a smirk.

"Since when do you know how to smirk?" Buffy asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Since Spike started babysitting me after… well… you know," Dawn replied uncomfortably. There was an awkward silence for a few moments, before Buffy got a bright smile on her face.

"Come on Dawn, let's go have a sister-sister chat," she said, getting up and slipping her shoes back on before grabbing Dawn by the hand and hauling her to her feet. "We'll just leave you two alone. TV remote's over there, we'll be down in a bit."

Buffy dragged Dawn upstairs and didn't stop moving until they had reached Buffy's room. The door was shut and locked tight before Buffy rounded on her kid sister.

"So spill," Buffy said excitedly. "What do you think of him?"

"He's okay, I guess," Dawn said with a shrug. Buffy looked at her sceptically before Dawn's face broke into a small smile. "Okay, he's kind of cool. He didn't treat me like a little kid, which I appreciated. He told me funny stories about you, which was so great. Nice to know I'm not the only Summers girl to get kidnapped. Oh! And he told me how much he really, really loved you and that you're his best friend."

"But…" Buffy prompted.

"How did you know there was a but?" Dawn asked, surprised.

"You have buttface," Buffy replied matter-of-factly, sitting down on the bed. Dawn flopped down next to her. "So spill. What's wrong with the oh-so-great person who decided to adopt me as his kid sister?"

"It's the fact that he adopted you as his kid sister," Dawn replied with a sigh. "I mean, I know it's not gonna happen or anything, but it kind of feels like he's stealing you away from me. When you came back, I thought I had you all to myself again. But then I find out you have this whole other family, this whole other life, and now you're not all mine anymore."

"Selfish much?" Buffy asked, arching an eyebrow. Dawn ducked her head sheepishly and Buffy laughed. "It's okay Dawn, I understand. I'd be upset too if I found out and some strange people had adopted you instead of you being able to stay with Willow and Tara. But you know what? These people might take up spaces in my heart, but they'll never replace you. I've got more than enough love to go around."

"I know, but… still," Dawn said with a sigh. "It's just a lot to get used to, you know? I'm gonna need time."

"Take as much time as you need," Buffy said. "We've got plenty of it, by the looks of it. Best way to get to know Yumichika, though, is to let him take you shopping. He has excellent taste."

"Hey, Buffy?" asked Dawn.

"Yeah?" Buffy replied.

"Do you have any pictures?" Dawn asked. "I mean, of you in your other life."

"Tons," Buffy replied. "But I think they're all in my new apartment in the thirteenth division, unless the two idiots downstairs brought some with them. I don't think they did, though, because I don't think either of them have that kind of foresight."

"Oh, okay," Dawn said, sounding a little sad. "How did you end up with those two?"

"Yumichika helped me when no one else would," Buffy replied. "The reasons he did it were purely selfish reasons, but I'm not really complaining. I got to live and I got an amazing friend out of the deal. And Ikkaku, but I don't like to think of him that much. He's in the background most of the time, only coming to the forefront when he's pulling his rampaging bull routine."

"What were Yumichika's reasons for helping you?" Dawn asked. "And why wouldn't anyone else help you?"

"Yumichika helped me because I was pretty – prettiest girl in Soul Society according to him – and he liked to surround himself around pretty people and things. Don't know why he's hanging around Ikkaku, though," Buffy replied with a snort and Dawn giggled. "As for the reason why no one else would help me… I got dropped into a pretty rough part of town. It was a dog eat dog world, and if you had someone injured as badly as I was, it would only slow you down and make you a target. Besides, I'd just been practically gutted by the biggest asshole in town, someone no one wanted to get onto the bad side of. It would have just been better to leave me there instead of getting on his bad side."

"And you're friends with him?" Dawn asked, her eyebrows raised. "Do you have any idea how messed up that sounds to someone on the outside?"

"Don't remind me," Buffy replied, making a face. "He's not an easy person to get along with, I'll grant you that. Rangiku called me crazy when I first met her when I told her how Ikkaku and I met."

"I'm kinda agreeing with this Rangiku person," Dawn said. "Who is she?"

"My best girl friend," Buffy replied. "We met at the academy entrance exam and then we ended up as room mates for the years I was there. It was nice having a girl around to talk to, especially when all of your good friends are boys. And then I ended up in a division where, except for our vice captain, I was the only female."

"Did you have any other close friends?" Dawn asked.

"There were two I was really close with," Buffy replied. "I still talk with Iba, although he's closer to Kakku and Yumi now. Then there was Byakuya; we're not really friends right now. Then again, our friendship was kinda doomed from the start."

"Why's that?" Dawn asked.

"He's head of one of the noble families, I'm just a thug from the eleventh division," Buffy replied with a shrug. "Well, I _was_ just a thug from the eleventh division. I got transferred out just before I got this mission. Anyway, I like to think I taught him everything that helped him make it as a captain. He could barely fight when I met him, before he asked me to teach him how to fight. He offered to teach me kido… magic. And how to use flash steps, which was kind of teleporting."

"You, learn magic?" Dawn asked. "I'm surprised you didn't blow yourself up."

"Uh, funny story," Buffy said with a nervous laugh. "I actually kinda did. Numerous times. To this day, I still think Byakuya got the way better deal. Although he did get threatened by Ikkaku to stay far, far away from me, so maybe he didn't get the better deal after all."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say he liked you," Dawn said sagely.

"Since when did you get all grown up and all knowy?" Buffy asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Since when did you get all revealy and talkative about personal stuff?" Dawn shot back.

"When you live with two guys who won't let you hide anything and you can't lie to, you get used to spilling your guts about just about everything," Buffy replied with a shrug. "And the stuff they couldn't get out of me, Rangiku could. I had, like, no secrets. I couldn't even secretly date anyone, because within a week Kakku and Yumi would be storming the poor guy, threatening to kick his ass if he hurt me. They happened to be one of the best chastity belts a girl could ask for. Too bad I didn't ask for it."

"That's a little bit more information than I needed," Dawn said, as an awkward silence descended on the sisters. "Well… I'm gonna go. Lots of homework to do and stuff."

"Okay, see you later," Buffy replied, a little sad, but she knew her sister needed to keep up with her studies. She definitely didn't want Dawn to have the same somewhat spotty academic record Buffy herself had.

"Do you want to talk to Yumichika?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah, but don't go out of your way to go and tell him," Buffy replied. "It's not urgent, I'll catch up with him later."

"'Kay, see you later," Dawn said, getting up from the bed and leaving the room, waving at Buffy before opening the door and heading out into the hallway, nearly crashing into Yumichika as she did so. "You weren't droppin' any eaves, were you? 'Cause that's kinda rude."

"No, I was just about to knock," Yumichika replied as Dawn brushed past him to head to her own room. Once he heard Dawn's bedroom door close, Yumichika sighed and entered the bedroom, closing the door behind him.

"What's up?" Buffy asked, curious as to why he was there. She wasn't complaining, of course, but the curiosity still ate at her a bit. She wondered, even after all of these years, how he knew when she needed him the moment she needed him.

"I have to say, your sister is a rather special person," Yumichika said as he took Dawn's spot on the bed. "Full of life and energy, shooting off questions a mile a minute. I could barely keep up!"

"That's my Dawnie, total motor mouth," Buffy replied fondly. "What did you two talk about?"

"Didn't Dawn tell you?" Yumichika asked, puzzled.

"Not really," Buffy replied with a shrug. "We just got to talking about stuff, like my life in Soul Society and the people I was friends with. Say, you didn't bring any pictures with you, did you?"

"Just the ones I keep on me," Yumichika replied.

"You keep pictures on your person?" Buffy asked, cocking her head to the side. This was a new development.

"Just a couple," Yumichika replied. "I like having the people I love close to me, always."

"Awww, that's so sweet," Buffy gushed. "Can I see what ones you keep with you?"

"Sure, they're in my bag," Yumichika said, getting up off the bed and walking to the two suitcases she hadn't seen the night before. She wasn't surprised; Seiretei worked in strange ways and she wouldn't be surprised if someone in the twelfth division had given them shrinking suitcases or something like that.

She watched as Yumichika rooted around in his suitcase, tossing clothes out left, right and centre. Tailored slacks, designer jeans and well made, tailored collared shirts came flying at Buffy, some hitting her in the head.

"You're gonna have to clean this stuff up, because I'm not going to do it," Buffy said as she wrinkled her nose.

"Well then, your room is going to stay messy, because I'm too lazy to clean it up," Yumichika said, sticking his tongue out at Buffy before he triumphantly held up a few photographs. He tossed them onto the bed. "Go ahead and take a look at them."

Buffy grabbed the photos eagerly, wondering which snaps he held dearest to his heart. There was a picture of her and the two boys during their time at the academy; there was one of Rangiku, Iba, herself and the boys at a party somewhere; and the last one was of a picture of herself and Ikkaku, hugging each other as if one or the other would slip away. Ikkaku was in his academy uniform, but Buffy was wearing a rather ragged kimono. She recognized it as the one she had woken up wearing the day she was kidnapped. She couldn't get that thing off soon enough and was eager to see it burn when she did.

"Yumichika?" Buffy asked. She knew the time period of when the picture was taken, but she didn't remember hugging Ikkaku so hard like that.

"Yes, Buffy?" Yumichika replied.

"When did you take that picture?" Buffy asked, holding up the picture of herself and Ikkaku.

"That was just after you'd been rescued when Kurotsuchi kidnapped you," Yumichika replied. "I remember, it was so hard to get you away from him once we got you out of there… don't you remember?"

"Yeah, a bit," Buffy replied, thinking back. It had been so long ago, and she had tried to repress most of that horrible, awful day. She did remember Ikkaku's strong arms wrapped around her, his soothing voice trying to calm her down while telling her that if she ever let herself get kidnapped again, he'd kick her ass so hard her grandchildren would feel it. "I've kind of repressed that whole horrible, terrible day."

"I can't say I blame you," Yumichika said as Buffy handed the photos back to him. "Your sister was asking all kinds of questions when we talked."

"What did you two talk about?" Buffy asked again. Yumichika arched an eyebrow. "I may be blonde but I'm not dumb. I do pay attention, and you haven't answered my question yet."

"I don't think anyone's ever called you dumb," Yumichika said thoughtfully.

"Ikkaku calls me dumb," Buffy retorted.

"He only does that when you do stupid things," Yumichika said. "But his opinion of stupid and your opinion of stupid are nearly completely different, so I wouldn't worry about him all that much."

"You're stalling," Buffy said.

"I know I am," Yumichika said. "You're much too smart for me, a mere mortal, to fool."

"You, mortal? Please," Buffy scoffed.

"We're harder to kill than normal humans, but that doesn't make us immortal," Yumichika replied with a shrug. "Damn close, but not quite."

"Now answer my damn question already," Buffy said with a huff, growing impatient. It wasn't like him to stall this hard; it was beginning to make her worried.

"We just… talked," Yumichika replied with a shrug. "About everything. Nothing specific, everything important. Although, she did seem surprised when I said I was jealous of her."

"Why are you jealous of Dawn?" Buffy asked, curious. He'd been curious about her, sure, asking Buffy questions about her every chance he got, but she didn't get the impression that he had been outright jealous of her.

"She got to have you first," Yumichika replied. Buffy looked at him, puzzled. "She got to see you grow up, she got to see you before you became the Slayer. She got to see you as a cheerleader. She got to see you before evil touched you, before you turned into the strong, and frankly, scary young woman I'd protect with my own life."

"You do know that most of those memories aren't technically real, right?" Buffy asked. "I mean, they're real in the sense that they're there, and I remember them and everyone else does, but Dawn was only created a little over a year ago."

"But as you said, Buffy, you remember all of that stuff and so does she. Makes it completely real in my book," Yumichika replied. "But then Dawn turned it around and said she was jealous of me because I got you way longer than she did."

"That I can't really argue with," Buffy said. "And I'm sure everyone else will be jealous of that fact too. I've only known Willow and Xander since I was 16. Only five years. Nothing compared to you guys."

"And yet you're closer to them than me and Ikkaku," Yumichika remarked. Buffy opened her mouth to protest, but was silenced by Yumichika placing a finger on her lips. "And we're both okay with that. They were here first and we'd never, ever think of replacing them. We're all your family, and that's good enough for me, and Ikkaku too."

"Well you're wrong about me being closer to them, or to you," Buffy said once Yumichika's finger was off of her lips. He looked at her, curious. "I love you all equally, just in different ways. I have different relationships with each of you, and no one person is more or less important than another."

"I see," Yumichika said sagely.

"So, has anyone replaced me in eleventh yet?" Buffy asked abruptly, changing the subject.

"No one so far," Yumichika said with a sigh. "I don't think anyone wants to come between me and Ikkaku, although I think Himura might be gunning for that spot. I think he's still a little sore that you got promoted much higher than he did, even though he'd been there longer. He's been spreading it around that you got your position using some of your – ahem – other abilities besides your fighting abilities."

"I'm going to kill him," Buffy snarled, her fists clenched. "I'm gonna freaking kill him if I ever see him again. One on one, he can't take me. I'm too fast for him to track and a hell of a lot stronger than I look. I worked damn hard to get up as high as I did, and I wasn't working on my back."

"And that's precisely why Kenpachi won't ever promote him," Yumichika replied, rubbing Buffy's back in soothing circles. "He'd rather leave the position empty than let some moron like him get it. He doesn't care if Himura slaughters every single officer ahead of him, he won't get much higher than he already is."

"That's good," Buffy replied. "Well, the fact that Himura won't get any higher in the eleventh division, not that Kenpachi doesn't care about his entire division getting slaughtered."

"Yeah, he's a bit of an odd man, isn't he?" Yumichika mused.

"Just a smidgen," Buffy agreed.

"Are you hungry?" Yumichika asked. "It has to be around lunchtime."

"Is this your way of saying you're hungry and you wouldn't mind it if I made something for you?" Buffy asked, arching an eyebrow.

"It sounds so horrible and selfish when you put it like that," Yumichika replied, smiling sheepishly.

"I don't mind," Buffy replied with a shrug, getting up. "You've cooked for me so much, it's only fair I toss a frozen pizza in the oven for you once in a while. There's still pizza in the freezer, right?"

"I thought I saw a box this morning, but that doesn't mean it's there now," Yumichika replied, following Buffy's lead. "You know Ikkaku and his uncanny ability to clean out other people's cupboards."

"I should probably go downstairs and make sure he isn't corrupting my kid sister," Buffy said with a grin. "After all, he did such a bang up job with me."

"He wouldn't corrupt her," Yumichika reassured her. "Much."

"You're horrible," Buffy retorted, smacking him lightly on the arm as she led them out of the room.

"You love me anyway," Yumichika said with a laugh as he followed Buffy into the hallway, closing the door behind him before following Buffy down the stairs.

"Uh, Buffy?" Dawn asked as they entered the kitchen in search of food. She was standing in the middle of the room, and everything was still covered in water. "What happened in here?"

"What makes you think I did anything?" Buffy asked innocently.

"Tara and Willow wouldn't have done this, Anya and Xander weren't here and I was out with Yumichika," Dawn reasoned. "So it had to be you."

"Ikkaku and I got into a bit of a water fight," Buffy replied sheepishly. Dawn looked at her, amused. "It's his fault, he started it!"

"And you were going to leave someone else to clean it up?" Dawn asked, arching an eyebrow.

"She probably thought I would do it," Yumichika said with a long-suffering sigh. "She always seems to think I'm going to clean up all of her messes. You should have seen our apartment; if I didn't clean or cook, our apartment would look like a clothing bomb went off in it and it would be filled with take out containers."

"Oh shut up Yumichika," Buffy retorted, sticking her tongue out at him. Dawn giggled. "You had more clothes than I did and if we didn't keep your bedroom door closed the mess would have spilled out into the hallway. You're already making yourself at home; my room is covered in your clothes. You'd better clean that up or I'm gonna make you sleep in the basement."

"He slept in your room last night?" Dawn asked.

"Bed was big enough for the both of us," Buffy replied. Dawn looked at her strangely. "What?"

"You two are just way closer than I thought you'd be," she replied with a shrug.

"Dawnie, when you've pretty much spent your entire life around the same people, you're bound to get close to them," Buffy replied. "Or you end up hating their guts, depending on how your personalities mesh."

"Is that what it's like with Ikkaku?" Dawn asked as the said bald man entered the kitchen.

"Felt my ears itching, someone talking about me?" he asked.

"Just telling Dawn here that I have strong feelings for you," Buffy replied with a shrug. Ikkaku puffed himself up proudly. "Whether or not they're positive, I'm still not sure about."

"You couldn't have kept your mouth shut, could you?" he asked with a scowl. "Let me have my moment and all."

"And make you delusional?" Buffy asked. "Rather not."

"Are they always like this?" Dawn asked, making her way to Yumichika's side.

"Most of the time they're worse," Yumichika replied. "They're practically getting along; it hasn't devolved into name calling and hair pulling yet, so it's a good sign."

"I heard that," Ikkaku grumbled. "I only pulled her hair once. It wasn't even really a pull, it was more of a light tug if anything."

"You actually messed with the hair?" Dawn asked, incredulous. "And you survived?"

"She started it!" Ikkaku exclaimed, defending himself. "She was getting all comfortable, using my shoulder as a pillow when some hot girls were walking by. So I kind of yanked on a strand of her hair to get her off of my shoulder. Ended up with a bruised ass, though."

"You were being an insensitive jerk," Buffy retorted. "I'd just been kidnapped and I needed some support. Yumichika wasn't around and you were the next best thing. Besides, everyone had seen you with your arms around me not moments before, so they all probably thought you and I were together anyway."

"You're gonna have to tell me that kidnapping story one of these days… the whole story, not the edited version Yumichika told me," Dawn said.

"Maybe later," Buffy said, although she didn't have any intention of telling Dawn the story anytime soon. Not when Dawn was still a kidnapping risk herself. "But first, maybe some lunch? I'm sure you guys are hungry."

"I could use something to eat," Ikkaku said and Dawn and Yumichika agreed.

"Alright, get out of here, sit in the dining room and I'll toss a pizza in the oven," Buffy said, shooing them out of the kitchen. She wondered what they would talk about; hopefully nothing too mentally scarring. She didn't want her sister to think badly of her two best friends.

XOXOXO

**So, new chapter. Yay. Getting to the end of the prewritten stuff, but I'm working diligently to write more for your reading pleasure. I know I've been bad with updates, but you can't blame me for the last little while. Blame my computer :P.**

**As always, feedback is appreciated. Thanks for reading.**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

By the time Buffy had taken the pizza out of the oven, she had heard a fat load of nothing from the dining room. Either they had been communicating telepathically or they had been sitting at the table avoiding each other's gazes for the past twenty minutes or so. Buffy almost hoped the former had been happening, but knew it was more likely that it was the latter reason was causing the silence.

"Ooh, pizza!" Willow said excitedly as she and Tara entered the kitchen. "Is it really lunch time already?"

"What were you two doing that you lost track of time?" Buffy asked cheekily, sliding the pizza onto the cutting board and slicing it into even pieces. Both Willow and Tara looked at each other awkwardly, blushing slightly. "Okay, okay, I get the picture. Go, sit with the others in the dining room. Maybe you can get them talking or something, because they've been silent since they got in there. I really hope they didn't kill each other or something."

"When did you get so… morbid?" Willow asked.

"I've been surrounded by death for fifty years, literally," Buffy replied. Willow and Tara looked at her, surprised. "No, seriously. Shinigami are pretty much a version of the Grim Reaper, we help lost souls cross over to the other side and cleanse evil spirits."

"Fascinating," Willow said. "Would you mind telling me about it, later?"

"Sure, be glad to," Buffy replied. Maybe she would understand where she had been and what she had been doing while she had been dead, that it hadn't been Hell.

Willow was about to say something else when the doorbell rang. Buffy shooed Willow into the dining room before going to answer the door, surprised to see Giles standing on the doorstep.

"Hi Giles, what's up?" she asked. "Any world save-age to deal with?"

"No, no, nothing like that," Giles replied, holding up a large and dusty book. "I've found some information about this Soul Society and I was hoping to discuss it with you and your friends."

"If you wanted information, all you had to do was ask me," Buffy replied, a little hurt that Giles wouldn't come to her even though she had first hand experience in the subject he was researching. "Or if you didn't trust my knowledge for some reason, you could have asked Yumichika or Ikkaku. They were living in Rukongai long before I literally dropped from the sky."

"Yes, well, um, I wanted to get some background information so that I knew what kind of world you were in when you, um, disappeared," Giles replied. "It's remarkably difficult to find information about Soul Society, though."

"Well, since most people can't see Shinigami or Hollows, it's to be expected," Buffy replied with a shrug. "Would you like us to tell you a bit about it, see how it compares to something written by someone on earth?"

"Of course," Giles replied.

"But first, how about some lunch?" Buffy suggested. "I just took the pizza out of the oven. Maybe _you _can get them all to speak, because they've been as quiet as death in there. Although, now that I think about it, death was far from quiet, but you know what I mean."

"Yes, quite," Giles said uncomfortably, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

"Come on, let's go," Buffy said, heading into the kitchen and grabbing the pizza on her way into the dining room. As she had expected, her Sunnydale family was looking at her Soul Society family warily, and Ikkaku and Yumichika were shifting uncomfortably, probably unused to this kind of scrutiny. Usually, _they _were the ones staring and making people uncomfortable when it came to Buffy. It was actually kind of refreshing to see her boys getting a little uncomfortable. Maybe this way, they'd stop terrorizing and staring down anyone who decided to ask her out on a date.

"Finally," Ikkaku said, earning him a smack on the back of his head. "What the hell was that for, woman!"

"Patience is a virtue," Buffy sing-songed as she put the pizza on the table. Everyone dove for it, and Buffy was very glad that it was one of those party sized pizzas. As everyone was dishing up, Buffy turned her attention to Giles. "So, you said you had questions?"

"Ah, yes," Giles said. He reached into his bag and extracted a rather old and rare looking book. "I found this on one of the shelves of The Magic Box and I was hoping you could tell me how accurate the section on – er – you was."

"There's a section all about me in that book?" Ikkaku asked. "Well, of course they'd want to write about me. I'm the epitome of the perfect Shinigami. Let me read it."

"I'm surprised he knows the word epitome," Yumichika murmured in Buffy's ear.

"I'm surprised he knows how to read," Buffy murmured back, causing Yumichika to snort and Ikkaku to shoot a glare their way.

"You'd better not be talking about me," he grumbled.

"Like we would," Buffy said with a scoff.

"Here, let me take the book," Yumichika said, gently taking the book from Giles. "I'm probably the safest out of these three to handle it. He throws books and she drools on them."

"Hey, I only did that once!" Buffy replied with a pout. "I was helping Rangiku study for a test and I kind of, you know, fell asleep."

"Yeah, and you woke up with a book stuck to your face," Ikkaku said with a snort.

"Oh yeah, and you throwing books around is so much better," Buffy replied with a roll of her eyes. "At least I could still use my books after I was done with them."

"Children!" Yumichika exclaimed, levelling the two people on either side of him with a glare apiece. "I swear, sometimes I think locking you two in a closet and throwing away the key would do wonders for my stress levels."

"And, you know, it would probably do wonders for the sexual tension between you two," Dawn piped up with a grin, causing everyone at the table to stare at her.

"Remind me to stop letting you hang out with Anya," Buffy said.

"She's the one who's blunt about things of a sexual nature, right?" Yumichika asked. Buffy nodded. "Yes, good idea. Our sister doesn't need to be exposed to that just yet."

"I'm _not _your sister," Dawn said with a scowl, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Could we please get back to my book?" Giles asked, gesturing to the unopened tome in Yumichika's hands. "There's only a brief mention of the Shinigami, and I was wondering if the account was an accurate one."

"We'll soon find out, won't we?" Yumichika asked, opening the book and flipping through the pages until he found the section on Shinigami. He looked at it and blinked, before he closed it again. "You weren't joking when you said it was brief."

"How much is in there?" Buffy asked, trying to get a glance at what was written.

"Not a lot. Barely a paragraph and no pictures," Yumichika replied as he handed the book back to Giles. "So, what did you want to know?"

"Well, as you saw, the book outlines your basic duties as guides to the afterlife and guardians against evil spirits," Giles replied. "What I would like to know is how you do it. What are your methods, what tools and technology do you use? How do you know the difference between a "good" spirit and a "bad" spirit?"

"Those are easy enough questions," Yumichika said, thoughtfully stroking his chin. "To guide good spirits, or Wholes, to Soul Society, we perform the _konso _ritual. It allows the spirits to bypass the Severed World and go straight to Soul Society. With evil spirits, or Hollows, we do battle. It is very easy to tell the difference between a Whole and a Hollow. A Whole looks like a regular person, while a Hollow is a monster. To perform both the _konso_ and to vanquish Hollows, we use our Zanpakuto. Each is unique to the Shinigami who wields it, both in appearance and abilities. Even the sealed forms are varying in appearance, even though on first glance they look like basic katanas."

"What do you mean by sealed?" Giles asked.

"Are you sure we should be telling these people this?" Ikkaku asked. "I mean, humans aren't supposed to know that we exist. There are maybe one or two in a million who have a strong enough sight to even see our outlines, and even fewer who can actually see and interact with us. We shouldn't be telling them our secrets. Hell, we should be erasing their memories of us before whisking Buffy away and, y'know, trying to find someone or something that could help her get her powers back."

"Look at you," Buffy said. "Turning into logic man. When did this happen?"

"And how do you know that Buffy _wants _her powers back?" Willow asked. "I mean, she's happy here. Right, Buffy? You're happy here in Sunnydale, right?"

Buffy was trying to find a reply that wouldn't hurt Willow's feelings but also conveyed that no, she wasn't happy there, at least not anywhere near as happy as she had been, but apparently she needn't have bothered.

Ikkaku beat her to it.

"Of course she isn't _happy_," Ikkaku said with a scowl. "Does she look happy? If you really, honestly looked at her, would you say that everything was going all right? That everything is okay? Buffy's not that good of a liar, so you must be really blind if you can't see it."

"Ikkaku," Buffy said weakly. "Shut up."

"But it's true, isn't it?" Ikkaku asked. "I mean, you can't really be happy, not around these people who tore you away from your family, your friends, your _life_!"

"You forget, that this was my life before I became a Shinigami," Buffy retorted.

"You didn't deny anything I said," Ikkaku pointed out.

"Well, I'm not _un_happy," Buffy said. Everyone looked at her sceptically, and Willow looked hurt. "What? I'm not! And who's to say Willow's spell did this to me? You guys both know Kurotsuchi was obsessed with the Slayer, all the way from when he first heard us talking about it. He could have wanted to observe a Slayer in her natural habitat, doing what she does best."

"Yeah, and we'll never learn what's going on in that head of his because he won't give anyone any straight answers," Yumichika said, joining the argument.

"So you're saying some weird, obsessed dude is watching _you_?" Dawn asked, looking up and all around her. "Like, he could be watching us right now?"

"He could be," Buffy replied with a shrug. "I mean, he's the head of the Research and Development division, and the only people who might know everything he does in there is the Captain-Commander and that creepy-ass lieutenant of his. Who knows if he's got stuff watching me while he's there and I'm here?"

"Way to totally make me paranoid," Dawn said, looking around warily. "He isn't, like, a pervert or anything like that, right?"

"I don't know what his deal is," Buffy replied. "Well, except for the fact that he likes to kidnap defenceless girls, tie them up and leave them at the mercy of a crazed vampire."

"You're hardly defenceless, Buffy," Yumichika said, patting her on the shoulder.

"When faced against a competent seated officer with a Zanpakuto that could paralyze any appendage that it struck?" Buffy asked. "Please, I was toast."

"So, these Zanpakuto, they have different abilities?" Giles asked, bringing the focus back to the initial conversation. While Buffy was thankful for the distraction, she also knew that there were many questions to be asked, and she wasn't entirely sure she was ready to answer them. She would have to think long and hard about the answers to those questions before she voiced them.

"Yes," Yumichika said, answering Giles' question and therefore going along with the subject change. "Each Zanpakuto is unique to the Shinigami who wields it, with names, abilities, appearances and personalities. Mine, for example, is called Fuji Kujaku and it transforms into a four bladed sickle."

It took everything Buffy had not to call Yumichika out; she knew he was lying. She was one of the few people in the Gotei 13 who knew Yumichika's Zanpakuto's true name and the extent of its abilities. She wasn't sure if he knew she knew, but she also knew that Ikkaku didn't know and Yumichika would kill her if Ikkaku found out through her. So, she kept her mouth shut for the time being.

"What does yours look like?" Dawn asked, curious.

"Gigantic hammer," Buffy replied. "Well, the first phase looks like a huge hammer. No idea what the second release looks like because I haven't gotten there yet. Not many can, so it's nothing to worry about."

"Like the troll hammer?" Willow asked. She was still looking a little apprehensive, but she was also curious about what Buffy's life had been like while she was gone.

"Almost exactly like the troll hammer, actually," Buffy replied. "Bigger, though, I think."

"It's actually really funny when you first see her with it," Ikkaku said with a snort. "Teeny tiny thing coming at you with a hammer so big it looks like she can't even swing it? Hilarious. Which lasts about five seconds, which is about when you realize she actually knows how to use the thing."

"Scary little thing, my sister is," Yumichika remarked fondly.

"Does your weapon have any special powers?" Giles asked.

"Besides the fact that he likes bloodshed and can smash a Hollow's mask to dust in one hit?" Buffy asked. "No, not really. It's pretty much a rock 'em, sock 'em kinda deal."

"And how do you send a good spirit, Wholes, I believe you called them?" Giles asked, and when he got a nod in confirmation, he continued. "Yes, how do you send the Wholes to Soul Society."

"Our squad," Yumichika began, gesturing to himself and Ikkaku, "didn't really do the ritual much. We usually got sent in to get rid of Hollow infestations."

"It was my squad too," Buffy replied sullenly.

"But it's not now," Ikkaku retorted. "Get over it."

"I can't just _get over it_," Buffy said, her voice calm, but it was in such a tone that the two men sitting near her knew exactly what was going on. Buffy was definitely far from calm. "Fifty three years living, working, fighting with the same people, you begin to find a home, have a sense of belonging. You took that away from me, you bastards! I should have kicked you back to Soul Society as soon as I saw your faces around here. Or, you know, just kicked your asses for good measure."

"You sound mad," Yumichika replied, his voice quiet.

"No shit, Sherlock," Buffy said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. The other occupants at the table looked rather shocked at the blatant profanity coming out of her mouth.

"But aren't you happy to see us?" Yumichika asked. "You looked happy to see us."

"Only because you guys showing up was proof that I hadn't dreamed the last five and a half decades," Buffy shot back. "After losing all of my powers and being unable to use my Shinigami form, you could probably understand why I felt that way."

"What should we do now, then?" Ikkaku asked.

"You guys can go home; there's nothing keeping you here," Buffy replied. "You guys can obviously still use your powers, so you can go back with no problems. I'm going to stay here, do what I need to do again. Be the Slayer."

Buffy got up from the table and left, practically stomping up to her room. The rest of the people at the table sat in stunned silence, not entirely sure what to do with what had just been revealed. Yumichika was the first to move, getting up from his seat quickly after a few moments of silence.

"I should go and talk to her," he said as he turned to leave. He would have succeeded, too, if it hadn't been for Dawn's hand on his arm.

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" Dawn asked.

"She's mad at me. I have to make it right," Yumichika replied, trying to shake Dawn's hand from his arm. However, the hand would not be moved; all Dawn did was tighten her grip on his arm.

"You're right, she's mad at _you_," Dawn said. "If you want to have stuff thrown at your head, fine, I'll let you go. But I doubt anyone here is going to take you to the hospital if she knocks you out."

"You know, I think your taller sister might have a point," Ikkaku said with a smirk. Dawn got up and smacked Ikkaku on the back of the head, much like Buffy did on a regular basis.

"I'm _not _his sister," she snarled before stomping away.

"Looks like violence runs in the family," Ikkaku remarked with a smirk. He turned his attention to the people at the table – Tara, Willow and Giles were all staring at them, and while their expressions couldn't quite be described as hostile, they also weren't very friendly, either.

"I think we'll just go for a walk," Yumichika said, grabbing Ikkaku by the collar and hauling him to his feet. "C'mon, Ikkaku."

"Yes, I think that would be best," Giles said, his voice cool. With a nod, the two Shinigami left the kitchen and Ikkaku allowed himself to be dragged through the house and out the door into the fall sunshine that was gracing Sunnydale that afternoon.

"So, you're just going to run from her?" Ikkaku asked as they crossed the lawn and headed to the sidewalk.

"Don't you dare call me out on running away," Yumichika snarled. "It's not like you haven't been running from her for years."

"I haven't been running," Ikkaku said with something that could only be described as a pout.

"Oh please, you two have been dancing around each other for ages and every time one of you gets too close, the other backs away," Yumichika said. He held his forefinger and thumb a quarter inch apart. "I am _this close _to seriously considering locking you two in a closet and not letting you out until you either work through your issues or you kill each other."

"I'd like to see you try," Ikkaku said with a snort.

"With that sister of hers on my side, I probably will," Yumichika retorted as he marched off, heading down the block. Sighing, Ikkaku jogged after him, both of them wondering what they were going to do about the little blonde spitfire they'd claimed as their own so many years ago.

**XOXOXO**

Buffy was sitting on her bed, hugging her pillow, when there was a soft knock on the door. Before she could tell whoever it was to go away, the door opened and Dawn poked her head inside.

"Hey," she said. "Can I come in?"

"Is there anyone else with you?" Buffy asked.

"No," Dawn replied. "Ikkaku and Yumichika went out and Tara, Willow and Giles are still downstairs. Probably in shock."

"Yeah, they kind of dropped a bomb on you guys, didn't they?" Buffy said as Dawn slipped into the room and closed the door behind her. "Sorry about that."

"Were they right, though?" Dawn asked, sitting on the bed next to her sister. "Were you happier there?"

"I was happy there, and I'm happy here," Buffy replied. "It took a lot of time and energy and patience on everyone's part, but I got there. I had nightmares for years and I spent a lot of time in the library trying to see if I could get back, but there was no way I could. At least, not in a way where I could be here in the same time period you were in. Time moved differently in Soul Society – I never really figured out how. Sunnydale also never got very much Hollow activity, not until now anyway. I got sent down to investigate why that might be, because Sunnydale never showed up on the radar before now."

"Why you?" Dawn asked. "Was it a random assignment?"

"I doubt it," Buffy replied with a snort. "Kurotsuchi figured out I was the Slayer pretty quick, what with his eavesdropping. He's been obsessed ever since and I wouldn't put it past him to have done research in the Archives about everything he overheard. Once he found something going on in Sunnydale, he suggested that I get to be the one to investigate. My transfer into the division that does most of the investigating and protecting of the human world was just a happy accident."

"Can you use your powers at all?" Dawn asked. "Like, your Shinigami powers?"

"We don't think so," Buffy replied. "I mean, the boys tried to expel my soul from my body, but both of the most common ways didn't work. I don't want to try the last one if I can help it."

"What's the last one?" Dawn asked.

"Death."

"Oh."

They both went quiet and introspective for a few moments before Dawn bounced a little on the bed. Buffy looked at her, curious, finding herself returning Dawn's infectious smile.

"You know what we haven't done since you got back?" Dawn asked, continuing to bounce on the bed.

"What?" Buffy asked.

"Girlie sister bonding time," Dawn replied. "Between you looking for a job and dealing with the house and with me actually, you know, going to class, we haven't had a lot of time to, you know, do the girly thing. What do you think?"

"I think that's a great idea," Buffy said. "Just you and me?"

"Unless you want other people," Dawn replied with a shrug.

"Just you and me, then," Buffy said with a nod. "I think I've got enough for us to go out, have some ice cream and maybe do a little bit of shopping."

"Okay, let's do it, then," Dawn said. "I'm just gonna go and grab my coat, 'kay?"

"'Kay," Buffy agreed as Dawn got up and left the room. She took a few moments before getting up herself and heading downstairs, slipping her feet into a pair of flats and grabbing her jacket and purse. She also checked the house for Giles, Willow and Tara – it seemed like they had all left, without saying good-bye. Odd, but not unheard of – people were always coming and going in the house, Slaying, shopping or school.

"Okay, let's go," Dawn said, coming down the stairs. "Is there anyone else still here?"

"No," Buffy replied with a shrug as she opened the door. The Summers sisters exited the house, and Buffy locked the door before they headed down the sidewalk and started walking towards town.

Conversation drifted between how Dawn was liking school, how Buffy had liked studying in the academy and how Buffy's job search was going. Generally light, fairly neutral topics, just catching up on the last few days. They passed a hair salon on their way and Dawn turned to Buffy, a mischievous smile on her face.

"I don't think I like that face," Buffy said warily. It was the same kind of look Rangiku got when she wanted to dress Buffy up like an oversized doll.

"You should get your hair cut," Dawn said. Buffy was about to open her mouth to argue when Dawn cut her off. "No, seriously. I think you should. You haven't really changed your hair since before, you know, and it might be just what you need."

"Well, okay," Buffy said. "But if I end up with pink hair, you're not allowed to laugh."

"Why would you end up with pink hair?" Dawn asked, wrinkling her nose. Buffy just shrugged and led the way into the salon.

It wasn't long before Buffy was seated and the stylist had started snipping away – Buffy had given the stylist mostly free reign as long as she didn't end up with weirdly coloured highlights or a mohawk. The stylist had laughed and said she had something perfect in mind and, trusting the stylist and her scissors, Buffy closed her eyes and let her do her job while Dawn sat in the waiting area and thumbed through some of the trashy celebrity magazines spread out on the table.

"Okay, she's done," the stylist said to Dawn, poking her head into the waiting area. Dawn, in turn, bounced up from her seat and practically skipped to Buffy's chair, who was just checking out her new haircut. It was mostly the same colour, maybe a touch-up on the blonde, and it was now about shoulder length.

"What do you think?" Buffy asked as she ran her fingers through her hair.

"Love it," Dawn said with a grin. "Totally cute."

"Good," Buffy said as she got up to settle the bill, leaving as generous a tip as she could afford. They left soon after that, and as they were leaving they heard three people arguing about... something. It sounded completely human until Buffy felt a sort of shock on her back, and then something icy covering her body.

"Buffy!" Dawn exclaimed, turning to where she should have been. "Where did you go?"

"What are you talking about?" Buffy asked, vaguely hearing the sounds of a few people running away as she looked at Dawn. "I'm right here."

"Oh crap," Dawn said, her eyes widening. "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap. This is not good. This is not good at all."

"What's not good?" Buffy asked.

"You're invisible."

"Oh crap."

**XOXOXO**

**Okay, so in case you haven't figured it out, I'm going to be rearranging/bringing events forward to move the story along and stuff like that. I'm not going to tell you what's going to be rearranged or brought forward, you'll just have to wait to see about that. So, if something is blatantly rearranged, just assume that it's a part of the universe I'm creating and not a blatant mistake, 'kay?**

**I really hope that this chapter was worth the wait – I know, it's a little shorter than it should be and it's about two months late, but life has seriously decided to get in the way. Anyway, feedback is appreciated, even if it is to throw virtual rotten veggies at me or to yell at me for lack of updating. Thanks for reading ^_^**


	12. Chapter 12

**Pre-chapter Notes**: Okay, so I know I've been bad at updating. Some of you have mentioned it, more than once, in the review area on one of my other fics. And I'm sorry about that. Really, I am. It's been difficult to juggle all of my different projects, and because this one required the most work out of me, I let it fall by the wayside. I just hope that this chapter helps appease you.

Yes, I am aware that "Gone" occurred on a Wednesday. I am also aware that, at this point, Tara has moved out, Giles has gone back to England, Dawn has a broken arm, Willow is recovering from her magic addiction and there was a whole SNAFU with the social worker. Suspension of disbelief is an awesome thing.

Chapter 12

"What are we going to do? What are we going to do?" Dawn asked, panicking a little. A van peeled out of a nearby alley, hitting an invisibled fire hydrant before it drove down the street.

"Well, first you're going to calm down," Buffy replied.

"Okay, okay," Dawn said, taking a couple of deep breaths. "Okay, calm now."

"Good," Buffy replied. "Now, we should probably head on down to the Magic Box and see if Anya's seen something like this before. Or maybe Willow."

"Would your... brother... have any relevant information?" Dawn asked. Buffy smiled at that; Dawn was still reluctant to refer to Yumichika as her brother, at least she was doing it. It was a start, at least.

"Invisibility isn't really our thing," Buffy replied. "Stealth is definitely more Second Division, and the captain of that division hates my guts. What brought up that, anyway?"

"Because I think they're just up ahead," Dawn said, pointing. Buffy followed Dawn's finger and, sure enough, Yumichika and Ikkaku were not too far ahead, heads bent together in conversation. There were several girls giving them appreciative looks as they walked. Buffy wasn't all that surprised – they were a striking pair, light and dark, brawny and beautiful. Even Yumichika, who was arguably more feminine than she was at times, had an aura of danger around him. What did surprise Buffy, though, was the white-hot jealousy that stabbed at her, even though neither man paid the humans any mind. Shaking her head, she sighed. Dawn glanced in the direction of the noise. "What is it?"

"Nothing Dawn, nothing," Buffy replied with another shake of her head, even though Dawn couldn't see it.

"I say we take advantage of the invisibility," Dawn said with a smirk.

"What do you have in mind?" Buffy whispered. No one seemed to notice the teenager seemingly talking to herself, but Buffy wasn't entirely sure how much longer that would last.

"I'll go say hi, you just go mess with them," Dawn replied.

"How?" Buffy asked.

"I don't know, use your imagination!" Dawn shot back as she jogged ahead. Buffy really hoped that her little sister didn't sneak up on Ikkaku – he was jumpy enough when he was in Soul Society, but now that he was in a strange place with strange people, he was downright paranoid. She was relieved when she saw Dawn sneak up and clasped her hands on Yumichika's shoulder, causing him to jump before he turned and smiled at her.

"Dawn!" he greeted happily, before looking around. "What are you doing out, alone?"

"I'm not alone," Dawn replied. "Buffy's around here somewhere, probably getting ice cream or something."

Buffy bit back a snicker as Dawn worked her diversionary tactics, chatting animatedly with Yumichika. If she didn't know any better, Buffy would have thought she was being honest, babbling away at her big brother as if nothing had happened, as if she wasn't still angry or annoyed with him. Buffy, on the other hand, turned her attention to Ikkaku, who was standing there impatiently, arms crossed over his chest. Smiling to herself, Buffy set to work.

Ikkaku thought he felt the barest of touches on the back of his neck. He turned and flailed a bit, and it took all of Buffy's self-control not to giggle at him. She was taking her invisibility as a chance to touch Ikkaku in all of the ways she wasn't allowed to when she was visible, and she was going to take full advantage of it.

A hand ran over his bald head, Buffy rolling her eyes when she felt no stubble whatsoever. _Ha, shaven my ass! _She thought, stifling a snort. She continued touching him as they walked, keeping half an eye on Dawn as she chattered away at Yumichika, keeping him distracted. Every time Ikkaku lashed out, she danced out of the way, before she She even managed to cop a feel of Ikkaku's rather firm behind before he stopped, glowering at thin air. Buffy held back her laughter as she stood in front of him, enough distance so that she could dodge out of the way.

"Ikkaku, what's going on?" Yumichika asked, turning when he noticed Ikkaku wasn't following anymore. Ikkaku was still glowering at a spot about six inches to the left of Buffy's ear.

"Something keeps touching me. Groping me," Ikkaku grumbled. "I don't like it."

"What are you talking about, Ikkaku?" Yumichika asked with a laugh as he turned and approached Ikkaku. Buffy didn't have a chance to get out of the way and Yumichika collided with her, looking at the supposedly empty space. He tilted his head to the side in curiosity, his nostrils flaring a little as he scented the air. "Buffy?"

"Yeah," Buffy replied softly.

"How did you know it was her?" Dawn asked, curious.

"Her perfume," Yumichika. "It's faint, but it's still there. I remember it well; she's been wearing the same scent for thirty-five years."

"Where is she?" Ikkaku asked. "Is she in spirit form?"

"If she were in spirit form, _we _would be able to see her," Yumichika said, lowering his voice.

"Oh, right."

"Yeah, we were just on our way to see Anya at the Magic Box to see if they can help us figure out what's going on," Dawn replied. "Want to join us? Ow!"

Buffy wasn't quick enough to stop her sister from asking them, but she elbowed Dawn in the ribs for good measure. Maybe a little too hard, judging by the way Dawn was rubbing her ribs and glaring in Buffy's general direction.

"Is something wrong, Dawn?" Yumichika asked, concerned.

"Not really," Dawn replied, still rubbing her ribs. "Buffy just elbowed me in the ribs. I think she's still not too happy with you so she doesn't really want you to come with."

"Maybe we should go and do something else while you figure out this conundrum," Yumichika said carefully.

"Nu-uh, no way," Dawn retorted. "You guys'll probably raise hell around here and if Buffy has to avert an apocalypse that _you _created, she'll be more annoyed with you than she already is. Come on."

They all followed in silence – Dawn knew Buffy was still in their group because she could hear her sister's heels clicking against the pavement. It was a short walk to the Magic Box, and when they all entered Xander and Anya were the only people there, fussing over seating plans for the wedding.

"Hi Dawnie," Xander greeted with a grin before turning his gaze on the two men accompanying his best friend's little sister. "Guys. What's up?"

"Apparently I'm sitting with your family at table four," Buffy said, having crossed the room mostly silently, obviously looking at the seating plan.

"Buffy, where are you?" Xander asked.

"At table four, apparently," Buffy replied drolly.

"She's invisible," Dawn explained. "We don't know how, but she's invisible."

"You two did it!" Xander exclaimed, pointing at Ikkaku and Yumichika. "Everything was fine before you guys came along, and as soon as you guys show up everything goes to hell!"

"It wasn't them," Buffy said, her voice quiet. She didn't like seeing her Sunnydale family fighting with her Soul Society family, but she also knew that it was a possibility. "The only thing I can do to make myself invisible to humans is go into soul form, but I can't do that. And this isn't it."

"How can you tell?" Anya asked.

"Well, one, they can't see me," Buffy replied, pointing before she remembered that no one could see her. "I mean, Ikkaku and Yumichika. And two, I still feel trapped, like I'm too big for my body. It's a lot of power that got shoved into a human body. I still don't feel right."

Silence descended for a few moments, awkward and uncomfortable. Anya looked around and sighed exasperatedly before she took charge of the situation.

"Buffy, what were you doing before you got invisibled?" Anya asked.

"I was just coming out of the hair salon - " Buffy began, but was cut off before she could say any more.

"You cut your hair?" Yumichika asked. "How short?"

"About here," Buffy said, gesturing. "Well, if you could see me, my hand would be just above my shoulder."

"Oh, how cute!" Anya exclaimed.

"It really is," Dawn agreed. Ikkaku huffed, but no one paid him any mind.

"So, after you got your hair cut?" Anya prompted.

"Oh, right," Buffy said. "I left the salon and was walking with Dawn when I felt something hit me in the back and then I was cold and then I found out I was invisible. A van peeled out pretty fast and hit something else that was invisibled the same time I was."

"Have you been feeling ignored lately?" Xander asked cautiously.

"No. This definitely isn't a Marcy deal," Buffy replied. In fact, Buffy was feeling practically smothered now that her brother and Ikkaku had come along, and she would have appreciated some alone time. "What are we gonna do?"

"I'm going to go and talk to Willow, see if she can do something to help," Xander said. "Anya, are you okay to do the research thing from here?"

"What about us? What are we going to do?" Yumichika asked, gesturing to himself and Ikkaku. "We want to help."

"Speak for yourself," Ikkaku grumbled before he got elbowed in the ribs, hard enough to bruise. "Ow! What the hell? You have bony elbows, Yumichika."

"You deserved it," Dawn snapped, smiling at Yumichika before glowering at Ikkaku. Buffy could have crowed in delight – Yumichika was finally making some headway with Dawn. She didn't care if they didn't get too close, as long as Dawn wasn't openly hostile with him.

"Can both of you read?" Anya asked. Both men nodded. "In English?" Another pair of nods. "Other languages?"

"Passable," Yumichika replied.

"You guys are on research duty," Anya said brisquely.

"Are you sure that's a good idea with him?" Yumichika asked. "I mean, I'm gentle with books, but Ikkaku has a history of throwing them."

"Fine then," Anya said. "Baldy can go with Xander. Girly-man can stay with me."

"What about me and Buffy?" Dawn asked. Buffy snickered a little at the indignant noises that came from her boys, causing Ikkaku to glare in her general direction.

"I stick with Ikkaku," Buffy volunteered. "I mean, someone has to keep him in line. Might as well be me."

"Then I guess I'm research girl," Dawn said. "C'mon Yumichika, the good books are in the back."

Yumichika shrugged at Ikkaku before he followed Dawn into the back room.

"Well, I leave my brother and sister in your capable hands, Anya," Buffy said. She crossed the room so that she could whisper in Anya's ear. "Unless there's bloodshed, don't go in there to try and break up any fights. Yumichika won't hurt her and Dawn can't do much damage."

"I don't think I like the feeling of your breath in my ear," Anya said, leaning away.

"And there's the Ahn I know and love," Xander said, swooping down to kiss his finacee on the cheek. "I won't be long."

"You better not," Anya said. "We still have to figure out the centrepieces."

"Goody," Xander said, flashing Anya a thumbs up before he turned to Ikkaku. "Come on, melon-head. Buffy, you coming?"

"Don't call me melon-head," Ikkaku grumbled sullenly.

"Whatever you say... cueball," Buffy retorted, jogging up so that she could stand with Ikkaku and Xan,der, the heels of her boots clicking across the floor.

After a short scuffle for the front seat (Ikkaku won), they were on their way to Buffy's house, where Willow was supposed to be studying. They found her in the dining room, books and notes spread across the table as she tapped away on her laptop.

"Hey Wills," Xander greeted, his voice carefully neutral as Ikkaku stood near the door, his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. Willow looked at the bald man warily before she turned her attention back to Xander.

"What's up?" she asked quickly, the casual words at odds with the cautious tone of her voice.

"Ummm, you haven't been dabbling some major mojo again, have you?" Xander asked.

"Why? What's wrong?" Willow asked, worried.

"Something's happened to Buffy," Xander replied. "It rhymes with blinvisible."

"And you're just naturally assuming it's me?" Willow asked, a touch of anger in her voice. "Have you asked the two weirdos who came out of that portal?" She glanced at Ikkaku, still leaning against the wall, still looking sullen. "No offence"

"Offence taken" Ikkaku said, his scowl deepening.

"And we didn't immediately think of you," Buffy said, speaking for the first time. Willow looked around wildly, as if trying to figure out where the voice was coming from.

"Buffy?" she asked. "Where are you?"

"Sitting next to you right now," Buffy replied, making a big show of pulling out the chair and plopping down in it, groaning. "And like I said, we didn't immediately jump to you. Dawnie and Yumi are at the Magic Box with Anya doing research. We want to talk to Tara, too, to see if she's come across this kind of thing. We're just trying to get all hands on deck to help out with this problem and figure out what's going on."

"Well, all right then," Willow said, mollified for the moment. "So, what do you remember about just before and just after you went invisible?"

"Well, I had just finished getting my hair cut - " Buffy began, but she was cut off by an excited squeal by Willow.

"Ooh, really?" she asked. "How short?"

"It's just above her shoulders and apparently it's very cute," Ikkaku said with a roll of his eyes, exasperated. "Can't you people just let her get through her story without interrupting?"

"Sorry," Willoow said sheepishly, sucking her head in embarrassment.

"Don't worry about him, Willow, he's just a chronic crankypants," Buffy said with a snort and a smile. Willow smiled a little at that and unducked her head. "Anyway, I had just gotten my hair cut and was leaving the salon. We were passing by an alley when I felt something hit me, and felt very cold before I became invisible."

"Was there anything, any voices, a spell being said or anything like that?" Willow asked.

"No," Buffy replied, shaking her head even though no one could see her. "I thought I might have heard some arguing, but it could have just been some bums in the alley or something."

"Well, I think someone should go and investigate, see if anything else got turned invisible," Willow said. "I volunteer. Where abouts did you get your hair cut?"

Buffy rattled off the address before hesitating a moment, coming to a snap decision. "Take Ikkaku with you. If you run into something beastly, he can help out."

"But Buffy, I have my spells," Willow replied meekly, and Buffy sighed, rolling her eyes. Willow knew how she felt about magic – especially now – but decided not to push it. Willow must have heard the sigh, though, because she backtracked hastily. "Or, you know, backup is always good. I could always use backup."

"Did you consider I might have plans?" Ikkaku asked sullenly. Buffy narrowed her eyes at him, again forgetting that he couldn't see the death glare she was shooting at him.

"I've said it before, and I'll keep saying it until it gets through that thick skull of yours," Buffy said, her voice even. "If you're not willing to help, _go home_. You're no use to me as dead weight."

"Fine," Ikkaku said with a sigh, uncrossing his arms, his scowl lightening just a little. "Come on you, let's get going."

"My name is Willow," Willow reminded him in a cheerful voice. "The sooner we get out of here and start investigating, the sooner we can see Buffy again."

"Xander and I will head back to the Magic Box and hold down the fort there," Buffy said. "If you guys find anything, let us know, kay?"

"Who died and made you queen?" Ikkaku asked.

"You might be a higher rank than me, but this is _my _hellmouth," Buffy replied. "I've been doing this kind of thing a hell of a lot longer than you have, and what I say goes. The only reason why you got third seat anyway is because you won at rock-paper-scissors. Now get your skinny ass out there and start looking for clues."

"The hellmouth has made you crankier," was Ikkaku's only remark as Willow got up.

"We'll let you know as soon as we find anything," Willow said.

"Thanks," Buffy said appreciatively.

"Let's just get going already," Ikkaku said, surly again.

"Whatever you say, crankypants," Willow said with a smirk, causing Ikkaku's scowl to deepen once more. They left shortly after, leaving Buffy and Xander alone in the house for a few moments. Xander looked contemplative, causing Buffy to worry a little.

"You look like you're thinking deep thoughts," Buffy said after a few moments of silence.

"No, no thinking of the deep thoughts," Xander said, shaking his head. He grinned lopsidedly in Buffy's general direction. "Come on, let's head back and see if they've made any progress."

"Sounds like a plan," Buffy replied. The two of them left the house, Xander using the key kept in the fake rock to lock the door, before the headed back to Xander's car and drove back to The Magic Box.

**XOXOXO**

They had a whole lot of bupkiss.

On the plus side, Dawn and Yumichika weren't fighting. Getting along, even. It was an odd sight to see – usually Yumichika was a bit of a snob when it came to people outside of his own circle, but even Anya had reported him being pleasant. Buffy was sure it was for her benefit, so she really wasn't going to complain. An agreeable Yumichika was something Buffy was going to try and keep around for as long as possible.

On the negative side, they hadn't found anything that matched Buffy's description of what she had felt when she had been hit. There had been a few invisibility spells, of course, but they were always put on the caster and the effect was more of a tingling feeling instead of a sharp blast and a brief feeling of cold before becoming invisible. However, there were still a dozen and a half books to go through, and as soon as Xander and Buffy walked in the door they were put on research duty.

Buffy was in the back using the bathroom when Willow and Ikkaku came back, bearing a half spray painted, half invisible traffic pylon. She plopped it onto the table, making sure that it didn't disturb the research there.

"There's a few more where that came form, and a dumpster," Willow said. "We haven't found anything to cause it, but we're still looking. We just thought you'd want this to help with your research."

"Speak for yourself," Ikkaku said with a snort. Willow rolled her eyes. "I wanted to keep looking, but no, little Red here had to come running back with the cone."

"Don't listen to him," Willow said, waving him off. "He could have stayed behind if he wanted to."

"And Buffy would have hit me with her hammer if I let you run off alone," Ikkaku replied. "No thanks, that thing hurts."

"Thanks," Xander said, looking at the traffic cone warily. "I've always wanted a... traffic cone."

"Are you saying you're afraid of lil ol' me?" Buffy asked as the door to the bathroom swung shut.

"No, I'm saying I'm afraid of your enormous hammer," Ikkaku said. "That thing shattered nearly every bone in my body that one time you got me with it. I was stuck with Captain Unohana for over a month!"

"Well, we should probably head back out and see what else we can find," Willow said, jabbing her thumb at the door. "We'll check in in a couple of hours. Sooner if we find anything else."

Ikkaku grumbled under his breath, but he followed Willow without another word, the bell over the door jingling cheerfully as they exited, Ikkaku slamming the door behind them. As soon as it was closed, Buffy sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Did you really shatter every bone in his body?" Xander asked.

"He said nearly," Buffy replied. Xander and Anya stared in her general direction. "What? I said it was a really big hammer!"

**XOXOXO**

Ikkaku was scowling as Willow typed on the keyboard, her attention on the computer. He probably could have left and she wouldn't have noticed, she was so into her work. The looming threat of a Buffy ass kicking was one of the only things keeping him there. That, and he didn't know his way around Sunnydale and couldn't bear the thought of Yumichika laughing at him if he got lost. There was also a small part of him that was fascinated with the technology Willow was using, even though he didn't understand a lot of it, and if asked he'd vehemently deny it.

"Got an address," Willow said, scribbling something down in the notepad she had with her before she closed all of the computer windows and logged off. "Come on, let's go."

"Just like that, we're going to go and investigate?" Ikkaku asked.

"Why not?" Willow asked. "The sooner we investigate, the sooner we can make Buffy visible again, and as soon as Buffy's visible again, you'll stop being Mr. Surly Shorts."

"What did you just call me?" Ikkaku asked, his eyes narrowed menacingly.

"I called you Mr. Surly Shorts," Willow replied, trying to act as if she wasn't intimidated by the taller man, and don't a pretty good job of it, too. "You need to get it through your head that we care about Buffy just as much as you do, and want her to be happy just as much as you do. We're not the bad guys here!"

Ikkaku's lip curled as he was assaulted by Willow's words, but knew that if he gave in to the urge to retaliate, Buffy might kill him. Or seriously maim. Ever since he and Yumichika had arrived in Sunnydale, it was difficult to predict just what Buffy was going to do and he didn't want to risk getting an adverse reaction.

"Sure, whatever you say," Ikkaku said, his voice grumbling. "Let's just do this already."

Willow glanced at him, trying to decide whether or not to say anything else. Deciding that the situation was tense enough, Willow shook her head before she took the lead, knowing Sunnydale better than Ikkaku.

She led them to a house in a suburban area. A black van that matched Buffy's description and Willow's paint chippings was sitting in the driveway, partially covered in a tarp. They could see that part of the bumper was damaged and that some paint had chipped off.

This was their van.

In a move that didn't make much sense to Ikkaku, Willow took point, leading them down the path made between the house and the van until they reached the garage. Ikkaku stood back, acting as lookout as Willow plunged forward, opening the door and heading down the stairs. There was a scuffle as Willow got to the bottom of the stairs. Ikkaku heard shuffling as Willow struggled, the sound of tape being ripped and a phrase that made a chill run down Ikkaku's spine.

"_Congratulations. You're our first hostage._"

Rather than go down and risk getting captured himself, Ikkaku turned and ran as fast as he could to the Magic Box, moving at nearly flash step speed. He burst into the shop, startling Dawn, Yumichika, Xander and Anya, all of them turning to see Ikkaku standing there, panting a little as he caught his breath.

"Ikkaku!" Yumichika exclaimed, alarmed. "What's wrong?"

"Is Buffy around?" Ikkaku asked.

"She went home to prepare for patrol," Dawn replied. "Why?"

"We have a problem," Ikkaku said. "Willow's been taken hostage."

"Why didn't you go after her?" Xander asked, angry. "Had to save your own sorry hide, didn't you?"

"No," Ikkaku replied, matching the glare levelled at him. He was surprised that Xander hadn't backed down. "What would you rather have? One person captured and one person able to run for help? Or two people captured with no one knowing where they are?"

The phone rang while Xander and Ikkaku were having their stare-off and Dawn grabbed it from the counter. After a hushed conversation, Dawn pressed a button on the cradle, putting the person on the other end on speakerphone.

"I just got a call from the geeks," Buffy said. "They've got Willow and are holding her hostage."

"Icky was just telling us," Xander replied. "He was there when Willow got snatched."

"They told me to come alone," Buffy said.

"I hope you're not planning on following that order," Yumichika said, concerned.

"I have invisible backup," Buffy replied. "You bet your ass I'm not going in alone."

"Where and when?" Ikkaku asked. Buffy rattled off the address, an arcade near the salon where Buffy had gotten her hair cut, and said that they needed to be there as soon as they could. Before any of the Scoobies could say anything, Ikkaku and Yumichika each pulled a red, fingerless glove out of their pockets and put them on, counted to three and slammed a hand on each of their shoulders. Their bodies collapsed to the floor and two filmy figures emerged, leaving the shop quickly. Xander, Anya and Willow stared at the bodies crumpled on the floor.

"Okay, show of hands. Who else thinks this is kind of creepy?" Xander asked. Both Anya and Dawn raised their hands. "Okay, good. It's not just me."

**XOXOXO**

Buffy met up with Ikkaku and Yumichika outside of the arcade. They were hazy figures, but she knew they were there – that meant that her Shinigami powers could possibly be coming back. She just hoped that The Trio – and what kind of name for an evil organization was that, anyway? - was mundane enough that they couldn't see her boys. And if they could see them, that Ikkaku and Yumichika were blurry enough that they would be considered tricks of the light or something.

A quick plan was hashed out – Buffy would go in and Ikkaku and Yumichika would follow, keeping behind and away. They were both fast enough that they could rush to her aid as soon as she needed it, and stealthy enough to make sure they weren't seen by normal people until the very last moment. Not anywhere near fast or stealthy enough for Second Division, but those guys were elite. You couldn't see them coming until their swords were at your throat.

Buffy found Willow near the back and stretched out her senses to see if there was anyone else around. Finding three – one right next to Willow and two at one of the video games nearby, Buffy knew that she wasn't alone. She also knew that this was going to be easy, especially because she had her backup.

"You okay, Will?" Buffy asked as she approached.

"Buffy?" Willow asked.

"Where are the bad guys?" Buffy asked. She saw Ikkaku and Yumichika move into position. She hoped that they could hear what was going on.

"All around you, Slayer, so don't try anything," Warren said.

"He's bluffing, Buffy, there's only three of them," Willow said. "I think."

More than enough to cause some serious carnage," Warren said. "Right guys? Guys? Guys!"

There were sounds coming from one of the machines on Buffy's left. When she looked, no one was standing there, but the buttons and joysticks were moving of their own volition. Yumichika must have seen Buffy's glance, because he was over there in a flash and banging Andrew and Jonathan's heads together, effectively knocking them out.

"What was that?" Warren asked. "I thought we told you to come alone."

"I did," Buffy replied. "Looks like your flunkies got so excited they knocked each other out. Good help is so hard to find these days."

"Let's go over there," Warren said.

"Over there," Warren said. "Just... follow me."

Warren dragged Willow to a more secluded area of the arcade, Buffy following close behind.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess you're the one who did this to me?" Buffy asked.

"They're the ones from your mystery van," Willow replied.

"Oh," Buffy said. "You. What annoying thing are you going to do to me now?"

"Save your life, make you visible," Warren replied. Buffy was definitely sceptical about that, and could see Ikkaku out of the corner of her eye as he moved so that he was closer.

"Right. I'm supposed to believe that?" Buffy asked.

"They told me everything, Buffy," Willow said, sounding a little frantic. "Something's happening to you that, you're-"

"Fading away," Buffy cut her off. "I know."

"I can fix that," Warren said, lifting up the invisibility ray before he fiddled with it. It started warming up, making some whirring noises as it powered up. "Pick up that air hockey mallet on the table."

"What for?" Buffy asked.

"It'll give me a target to aim at," Warren replied. The logic was sound and it wasn't something Buffy could argue with. She picked up the mallet and held it aloft, letting Warren know where she was. Willow glanced at the ray and looked alarmed. "Okay, now hold still, and all your troubles will soon be gone."

"You're on the wrong setting!" Willow exclaimed, alarmed.

"What?" Warren asked.

"The gun, it's not set for reversing the particle ionization," Willow replied. "It'll accelerate her molecular dissolution, I saw the plans!"

"Mind your own business." Warren said, fiddling with the ray gun for a few moments.

"What's she talking about, Willow?" Buffy asked.

"Buffy, he's trying to kill you!" Willow exclaimed. As the ray gun was heading towards Willow's face, Ikkaku took action, rushing forward to tackle Warren out of the way, causing the invisibility gun to clatter to the ground. Willow grabbed the gun, put it on the correct setting and shot Buffy with it, before she shot Warren, Jonathan and Andrew. Warren was on the floor, pinned by Ikkaku, but it looked like Warren couldn't actually see him. Jonathan and Andrew were just coming to, rubbing their heads as if they were in pain.

"Jonathan?" Buffy asked.

"Warren?" Willow asked. They both looked at Andrew. "Who are you?"

"Who cares who he is?" Ikkaku asked, his lip curling. "He tried to kill you!"

"Let Warren up, Ikkaku," Buffy said with a sigh. "He's unarmed."

Ikkaku grumbled, but he got up, keeping a wary eye on Warren as he got to his feet, getting no help from anyone. He looked around, his eyes narrowed. "I could have sworn I was being held down by someone. Or something."

"Must be your imagination," Buffy replied. "Too much radiation is bad for your noggin."

"I'm Andrew, by the way," Andrew said with a weak wave. Buffy shrugged and shook her head, not recognizing him. She turned to Willow – she didn't seem to recognize him, either. "I summoned the flying monkeys that attacked the high school? During the school play, you know?"

"It's Tucker's brother," Warren said.

"Yeah, it's Tucker's brother," Jonathan agreed as he and Andrew joined Warren. They stood side-by-side, facing Willow and Buffy. And Ikkaku and Yumichika, but it was obvious that the trio couldn't see them.

"Ohh," Buffy and Willow said in understanding.

"So you three have, what, banded together to be pains in my ass?" Buffy asked snarkily.

"We're your arch-nemesises ... ses," Warren said. Buffy tried very hard not to laugh, and would have succeeded except for the snort that came out. "You may have beaten us this time, Slayer, but next time ... um ... uh, next time..." 

"Maybe not!" Jonathan said, finishing the thought, before he threw something onto the ground. A cloud of smoke and sparks appeared and there were sounds of scuffling footsteps as they tried to escape through the back door. Mutters about the door being locked made Buffy snicker. Hollows were smarter than these guys, and they worked on pure instinct. Scarier, too.

"I give you my arch nemesises...ses," Buffy said, gesturing.

"Oh yes, very scary," Yumichika said sarcastically as the Trio managed to finally unstick the door and escape.

"Oh my god, Buffy!" Willow exclaimed.

"What?" Buffy asked. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Willow replied. "But your hair. It _is _adorable."

"She's right," Yumichika said. "It is very cute. For the scariest woman in Soul Society, that is."

"Can we get out of here?" Buffy asked. "It's kind of weird talking to you when I can't see you."

"Yeah, good idea," Yumichika said. Ikkaku just grumbled under his breath. "We left our gigais at the shop."

"Then to the Magic Box it is," Buffy said with a nod as she led them through the back door that had been jimmied open by the Trio. 

**XOXOXO**

**Aftermath of some of the revelations in this chapter will be addressed in the next one. This was getting long as it is.**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"Look at her," Ikkaku muttered. It was early afternoon and the house was empty save for Buffy, Ikkaku and Yumichika. Dawn, Tara and Willow were all at school and everyone else who usually spent time at the house were either at work or elsewhere. Buffy was sitting at the kitchen table with the newspaper spread out before her, red pen in her hand as she circled job postings that she could apply for. Ikkaku and Yumichika were just around the corner, spying on her.

"I can see her just fine," Yumichika whispered back.

"How can she be happy here?" Ikkaku shot back. "Instead of doing what she loves, Hollow hunting, she's here, searching for a nowhere job so that she can keep a roof over her ungrateful, freeloading friends."

"You don't know that," Yumichika said. He grabbed Ikkaku by the arm and dragged him into the living room. They probably still weren't out of earshot, but at least it afforded the illusion of privacy.

"How could I not know that?" Ikkaku asked. "Dawn's understandable because she's still young and dependant on Buffy, but Willow and Tara? They're old enough to work, to contribute. Their schedules aren't so packed that they can't hold down something that pays. Most of the time I see Willow playing games or doing Slayer research on her computer than actually working on her school work."

"What do you suggest we do?" Yumichika asked. "She has no access to her accounts in Soul Society and there's no way she's going to accept our help. She's too proud for that."

"What about that sister of hers?" Ikkaku asked. "You're getting along better now, aren't you?"

"Better, but it's not perfect," Yumichika replied with a sigh. "She'll act normal and friendly for hours at a time, and then she'll remember that I'm 'stealing' her sister and give me the cold shoulder again."

"Maybe you can convince her that Buffy needs our help and to let us float her until she's able to come back," Ikkaku said. "I mean, _we _still have access to Soul Society."

"That we do," Yumichika said. "Although I don't know how much longer I can keep lying to everyone there. It might be time to tell the truth, even if it means having Kurotsuchi come down here and poke and prod her a little."

"If you think I'm going to let you guys bring Kurotsuchi onto my turf, you must have hit your heads harder than I thought."

Ikkaku and Yumichika turned, guiltily, to see Buffy standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame, watching them. She arched an eyebrow at the two of them, looking neither happy nor angry with the current situation. Curious, more than anything.

"Yeah, if you're going to plot behind my back in my own home, you might want to make sure I'm, you know, not here when you do it," Buffy replied. "I suggest locking yourselves in the basement and talk about it while I'm on patrol, but make sure you stay away from the heating grates. Sound travels through the duct work and Dawn's nosey when she wants to be, which is, like, all the time."

"We weren't plotting," Yumichika replied sullenly. Ikkaku just snorted, not bothering to deny it.

"Really, because it sure sounded like you were making with the plans and trying to make sure I couldn't hear you," Buffy replied with a snort. "Doesn't really work when you have someone with supernatural level hearing in the house."

"We worry about you," Yumichika said. Ikkaku snorted. "At least, _I _worry about you. I want to help in any way that I can. We still have access to Soul Society and our accounts there. Let me help with the expenses, the bills, anything, until we figure out what's going on."

"We're fine," Buffy replied quickly. "Just fine."

"Like hell you are," Ikkaku said with a snort. "If you were, you wouldn't be looking for a job flipping burgers."

"There's absolutely nothing wrong with flipping burgers," Buffy replied. "This isn't Soul Society, guys. Here, I can't get paid to bash the crap out of the things that go bump in the night. Since I've never held down a job that doesn't entail driving stakes into vampires or getting rid of evil spirits, I'm left with flipping burgers, waiting tables and maybe working the front desk at an office somewhere. Burger flipping is what's hiring right now, so burger flipping is what I'm applying for."

"But you don't have to," Yumichika said. "I have more than enough saved to keep you afloat until we figure this out, hopefully without involving Kurotsuchi."

"I can't take your money," Buffy said, shaking her head.

"When have you not accepted a gift?" Ikkaku said with a snort. "You need help, we're willing to give it. Why is that so hard for you to understand?"

"I don't like asking for help," Buffy shot back.

"You're not asking," Ikkaku retorted. "We're offering. Big difference."

"I don't want it," Buffy said.

"Maybe not," Yumichika said. "But want it or not, you _need _it. We're family, we take care of each other. You'd do the same for us."

"You, definitely," Buffy replied. She jerked her head in Ikkaku's direction. "Him? Maybe. Depends on how much he annoys me before he needs my help."

"I feel so loved," Ikkaku said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"I try," Buffy replied with a shrug. "But I'm still not going to take your money."

"Think about Dawn," Yumichika said. Buffy knew she was sunk as soon as Yumichika brought up Dawn.

"That's why I'm getting a job," Buffy replied. She already knew that she was losing this battle, but she wasn't going down without fighting to the end. Even in little squabbles, it was still the eleventh squad's way.

"You're not going to be able to keep this house with a fast food job," Ikkaku said with a snort. "And, like you said, you're not really qualified for anything else. Well, maybe private security, but most of them will just look at you and laugh. You're so tiny!"

"And yet I could still take you down," Buffy retorted.

"They don't know that," Ikkaku said. "Come on, just admit that you don't really have any other choice."

"There's always a choice, Ikkaku," Buffy replied quietly.

"Fine, taking money from us is the _best _choice," Ikkaku reasoned.

"For once, stop fighting me on this," Yumichika said. "Take the money. Think of it as a loan if you have to."

"One you're not going to make me pay back," Buffy pointed out.

"If you need to pay it back to make yourself feel all independent and shit then fine, you can pay it back," Ikkaku said with a sigh. "But only after we get you back to Soul Society."

"If you get me back," Buffy replied with a snort. It was difficult for her to believe that she was ever going back to Soul Society. "Does Central 46 even know my status? My captain? Anyone besides you guys and Kurotsuchi?"

"Your captain knows, our captain knows and Kurotsuchi knows," Yumichika replied. "Last time we checked in, no one else did, and I doubt there's been some large revelation since then."

"And how much longer do you have to figure out what's going on before the cavalry comes barging in?" Buffy asked.

"A few more weeks at least," Yumichika replied. "I've been buying us time by telling them that we're trying every avenue we have bring your powers back."

"And that's working?" Buffy asked. Yumichika nodded. "The guys in the Central 46 must be more senile than I thought."

"Or we've just been around long enough that they're starting to believe that we're capable, responsible Shinigami," Ikkaku replied.

"That's a terrifying thought," Buffy said with a snort as the front door opened and closed. All three occupants of the living room held their breath, wondering who was there.

"Hello?" Dawn greeted, uncertainly. She entered the living room, looking at the three adults standing there, looking a combination of guilty and serious. "What's going on? Who died?"

"No one died, Dawnie," Buffy said. She glanced at Ikkaku and Yumichika before turning her attention back to Dawn. "I have something I need to talk to you about. Let's go in the kitchen."

"Okay," Dawn said, uncertain, as she followed her sister into the kitchen.

Ikkaku and Yumichika watched as they left, straining to hear the hushed voices in the kitchen. Without going to the door and actively eavesdropping, though, all they could hear were hushed murmurs as the sisters had their discussion. It wasn't long before they were finished, emerging from the room with Dawn in front. She got one look at Yumichika before rushing forward, tackling him in a hug that was so forceful that it knocked him back a few steps.

"Thank you," she whispered before letting him go.

"What about me?" Ikkaku asked. "Don't I get a hug?"

"Buffy told me not to trust you," Dawn said with a snort before she turned to Buffy. "I'm going to head up and start my homework, 'kay?"

"Kay," Buffy agreed, and Dawn headed up the stairs, her footfalls pounding on the wood before they heard her bedroom door close upstairs. Buffy turned her attention to Ikkaku and Yumichika, who were both looking at her with smug smiles on their faces.

"Not a word, boys, or I'm going to take you out patrolling with me," Buffy said, pointing a finger at each of them.

"Oooh, that could be fun!" Ikkaku exclaimed, getting a look in his eye that he only got when he was about to go up against a rather nasty Hollow.

**XOXOXO**

"You said patrolling was going to be fun," Ikkaku whined as he perched on top of a tombstone in one of Sunnydale's newer cemeteries. Buffy sighed and rolled her eyes; of course, the one night it was dead silent was the one night she decided to take Yumichika and Ikkaku on patrol with her.

"To be fair, you were the one who said it was going to be fun," Yumichika said. "She just failed to correct you."

"Still..." Ikkaku whined. "This place is like a null zone. I've seen two frigging Hollows since we got here. Two! If I don't get any action soon, I'm going to scream."

"You know, there are places you can go for that," Buffy said as she twirled her stake. There was a katana strapped to her back, and Yumichika and Ikkaku had one each, having found them in the weapons chest at the Magic Box. Secretly, she was agreeing with Ikkaku. His whining was annoying her so badly that she needed to go and beat the crap out of something, anything before she decided that walloping _him _was a more attractive idea than usual. She was about to pack it in and call it a night when she heard someone calling her name.

"Buffy!"

She looked around, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from. It didn't take long – the source of the voice was jogging towards her as soon he spotted her. Whoever she was expecting, it certainly wasn't Riley.

"Who the hell're you?" Ikkaku asked, hopping off of his tombstone and moving so that he could stand in front of Buffy in a protective stance. Yumichika did the same, both men forming a sort of wall in front of Buffy, partially blocking her from Riley's view.

"Guys, back off," Buffy said, elbowing her way forward, getting disgruntled grumbles from both men. "It's just Riley. Which is all kinds of weird now that I think of it. What are you doing here, Riley?"

"_That's _Riley?" Ikkaku asked, pointing openly.

"Yep," Buffy replied.

"The commando ex-boyfriend?" Ikkaku asked.

"Yep."

Ikkaku looked him up and down, a sneer on his face. "I could take him."

"And just who are you?" Riley asked.

"No one important," Buffy replied. Ikkaku looked like he was about to protest, but Buffy was able to silence him with only a look. She turned her attention to Riley. "So. What are you doing here?"

"I was hoping I could get your help," Riley replied. He looked around, perplexed. "Where's everyone else?"

"Dawn should be at home doing her homework, Willow's with her, Tara's probably at the library and I have a feeling that Anya and Xander are doing last minute wedding planning," Buffy replied. "But you didn't come here to ask about them. So, what's the what?"

"Who are those two?" Riley asked, gesturing to Ikkaku and Yumichika. Buffy glanced over her shoulder; neither of them looked particularly happy to have Riley around.

"Ikkaku and Yumichika. They're friends," Buffy replied. At Riley's disbelieving look, Buffy sighed. "Things have changed, Riley. Deal with it. And you still haven't told me why you're here. You have five seconds before I sic the bald one on you. It's been a vampire-less patrol and he's really itching for a fight."

"I need your help," Riley said, again.

"I think we've established that," Buffy said with a roll of her eyes. "_What _do you need help with? Vampire? Demon? Shopping for something that doesn't make you look like a soldier boy?"

"Funny," Riley said. He wasn't smiling. "Something's come up. Something big. We don't have much time. You understand?"

"Of course it is," Buffy replied with a roll of her eyes. "Something always comes up, it's always big, and we never have a lot of time." She turned to Ikkaku, who had a look of extreme interest on his face. "Hey Ikkaku, looks like you might be able to do your slice and dice thing after all."

"You want to bring them?" Riley asked, looking uncertain. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"They could wipe the floor with you," Buffy replied with a shrug.

"In more ways than one," Ikkaku muttered. Buffy snorted when she heard Yumichika smack him on the back of the head.

"Thanks, Yumi," Buffy said. She turned her attention back to Riley. "So, this big thing that's come up. Does it have a name, or is it just a sudden, big thing?"

"I've been up 48 hours tracking this thing and it's come to Sunnydale," Riley said.

"That's obvious, otherwise you wouldn't be here, asking me for help," Buffy replied. "Soo... name, or are we going in blind here?"

"It's called a Suvolt demon," Riley said. "Rare, lethal, nearly extinct, but not nearly enough. We've been tear-assing through every jungle from Paraguay up, taking out nests. As soon as we put one Suvolte down, a dozen take its place. They're breeders, Buffy. One turns into ten, ten becomes a hundred. This gets out of hand and there's a war with humans? Humans are gonna lose."

"Reminds me of back home and the Hollows," Ikkaku said wistfully.

"Hollows?" Riley asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Don't ask, long story," Buffy replied with a shake of her head, waving him off. "You were saying? Rare, deadly demon terrorizing the villagers?"

"Right," Riley said, taking out what looked like a cell phone. He flipped it open and Buffy saw that it was actually a portable radar, much like the portal Hollow detectors they had in Soul Society. "There are two close by. We should hurry."

"Hey, that little doohicky could come in handy," Buffy remarked as Riley flipped the detector closed and put it back in his pocket. "Think you could score me one of those?"

"I'm sure if you let Kurotsuchi poke and prod you a little he'll rig one of ours up to sense demons and vampires," Yumichika piped up. Buffy shot him a glare, effectively telling him how she felt about _that _idea. "Or maybe not."

"Kurotsuchi? Strange names your new friends have," Riley remarked.

"He's not a friend," Buffy replied quickly. "He's about as far from being a friend while still being all soul-having, and even then I'm not so sure about the soul-having thing."

"Why do I have a feeling there's a story behind all of this?" Riley asked.

"Because you're smarter than you look?" Buffy replied with a shrug. "But we don't have time to talk about who I've met and worked with since you choppered out into the sunset. Demons, ho!" She was about to go off to fight the demon when she realized something. "Um, where exactly are we headed?"

"Follow me," Riley said, gesturing for them to follow him, jogging to get there quickly.

"This is about the time I really start missing flash steps," Buffy grumbled as she jogged to keep up. If Riley had heard her, he didn't give any indication.

It wasn't long before they reached the demon – the people running and screaming were a pretty big indication of where it was. Riley pulled out a badge from his pocket and began flashing it around.

"National Forestry Service, we got a wild bear! Everybody stand back!" Riley exclaimed. He pushed a pedestrian aside, approaching the demon. To Buffy, it looked like something from a bad sci-fi movie. "Look out!"

"Is it just me, or does that thing look like Buffy before she puts her makeup on in the morning?" Ikkaku asked as he pulled his katana from its sheath. Yumichika just snorted as he did the same, and Buffy resisted the urge to hit them both as she drew her sword from her back just as the demon lurched forward and slashed Riley's arm. With three people with swords coming after it, the demon turned and fled down the alley.

Stopping only to help Riley to his feet, Buffy followed Yumichika and Ikkaku into the alley, katana drawn. It didn't feel like her zanpakuto – the sword in her hand was just a cold piece of metal with a handle and a guard. A very nice piece of metal with a handle and a guard, but it didn't feel like a part of her. She could use it just fine – she had mastered many weapons types before she had achieved shikai – but her zanpakuto felt like an extension of her. This piece of equipment didn't.

Ikkaku and Yumichika were holding their own against the demon – it had several large gashes on its body, but no lethal injuries as of yet. Riley pulled out a gun and shot it, the dart sticking in the demon's chest. It let out an unearthly scream and jumped, scaling the building to the roof.

"You said we were going to kill stuff," Ikkaku said with what could only be described as a pout as he followed the demon with his gaze until it was out of sight.

"Don't even think about it, Ikkaku," Buffy said, her voice stern.

"I wasn't going to do anything," Ikkaku said sullenly as he turned away, sheathing his katana.

"Only because I stopped you," replied with a snort.

"Swords?" Riley asked. "Did you seriously just go after a demon with swords?"

"I don't like guns," Buffy replied. "You know that. And these two probably wouldn't know what to do with one. So, katanas it is. Besides, Ikkaku likes the ol' hack-n-slash. Makes him feel all manly. So, are we going to go after this thing, or are we just going to let it continue to terrorize the villagers?"

"Come on," Riley said, gesturing for her to follow him. He looked over her shoulder at Ikkaku and Yumichika. "Are you sure they should be coming with us?"

"They're the best I've got," Buffy replied. "I trust them with my life."

"Okay then," Riley said as he led them out of the alley, Buffy in the middle and Ikkaku and Yumichika bringing up the rear.

**XOXOXO**

So, here's another chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, late as it was. As I've said, this fic takes more episode watching/reading/research than the other pieces I'm working on, and that's why it takes so long for me to get chapters out. I appreciate your patience.


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